


Miraculous 25 days of Christmas 2018

by yukisukinomoto



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Best Friends, Christmas, Complete, Cute, Drabbles, F/M, Funny, Humor, Pre-Relationship, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-05 08:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 27,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16807150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukisukinomoto/pseuds/yukisukinomoto
Summary: 25 Days of Christmas prompts for 2018Day 1: Pinterest Recreation Fails





	1. Day 1: Pinterest recreation fails

Adrien's tongue was sticking out of the side of his mouth as he focused all of his concentration on the task at hand. " _Almost_..." He muttered to himself, pressing down... "And, don-" He blinked and lifted his fingers before glaring at them. The stubborn triangle of black felt clung to his finger. "Damn it." He shook his hand in vain, trying to dislodge it but the glue held tight.

A snicker caught his attention and he whipped around to fixate a glare on the floating black kwami.

"Don't push me Plagg, I _will_ tell Marinette you want an ugly Christmas sweater." He warned and wagged a finger at the little god. Unfortunately, that finger happened to be the one with the felt stuck to it. So of course Plagg couldn't hold it back anymore and started laughing so hard he rolled right out of the air to tumble on Adrien's pillow, wheezing and pounding his little paws against it.

"Kid, please, _stop_. I'm gonna blow cheese chunks." Plagg managed to squeak out between guffaws.

That's it. As soon as his fingers were glue free he was texting Marinette Plagg's measurements and requesting embarrassing accessories to go with it. He huffed to himself and returned his attention to his task, wincing as he very carefully peeled the felt off of his finger tip. _Ouch_. That was going to leave a mark. Still he pressed on and tried again, very careful to press only against the felt this time.

This was their first Christmas celebrating together after they had revealed their identities to each other. He wanted everything to be perfect. Sadly, his luck was making that... difficult to say the least.

This was only the latest in a string of unfortunate happenstances.

He desperately wanted to make her something. She was always so amazing, making presents for everything, spreading her talent around among her loved ones. He wasn't deluded, he knew he didn't have nearly so much talent as she did. But he wanted her to know he cared enough to spend time and effort on making something for her. And he knew her well enough that she wouldn't judge if it wasn't perfect. That didn't mean he didn't want to try and make it so.

His first mistake was with the spray paint. How was he supposed to know that you weren't supposed to use it indoors. His bathroom was now lightly dusted black. Not only that but apparently he was supposed to have done it in a well ventilated area... which Plagg recited to him off the instructions on the back of the can as soon as he dizzily stumbled out of the bathroom. It was hours later and he could still smell it throughout his whole room.

His second mistake had been the glitter. Apparently he should have tried to put it on while the paint was still tacky. Now he had mere small patches of the ornament covered whilst the rest of the glitter had ended up on his floor... and every other surface in the entire room.

And now, the ears just refused to adhere correctly.

All he wanted to do was make a Chat Noir ornament for his lady for her tree this year. He hung his head and groaned. A moment later, it was time to see if it took correctly this time and he said a quick prayer before carefully pulling his finger away. "HAH!" He cried in triumph, finger retreating from it's spot felt-free. 

And then the little felt triangle started sliding down the side of the bulb. He frowned.

Pinterest was a terrible, horrible liar.


	2. Day 2: Ugly Sweater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg faces his punishment like a man... god?... Oh who are we kidding. (a continuation from chapter 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, admittedly, I started with one 25 days of X-mas list and ended up switching to another. I may have a bonus chapter to redo day 1 of the new list but for the moment, I'm going to just continue on. :)

"You look _so_ cute!" Marinette cooed, hands clasped together in front of her as she surveyed the fruits of her labor. "Do you mind turning around?"

Plagg, for his part, did not _want_ to turn around. He didn't want to be in this situation in the first place. All _he_ wanted to do was to eat some delicious Camembert and take a nice, long, well-deserved nap. Unfortunately, the venomous glare coming from his chosen gave him pause. With a grumble under his breath, the small god turned around slowly in the air.

"Not too snug?" Mari checked, reaching a hand forward and gently scratching between his ears. He was betrayed by a purr.

Ugly sweater aside, she knew how to use her hands. "It's good, Spots." Plagg sniffed, looking down at the abomination that adorned his little body. Good may have been pushing it, in his tastes. He was decked in a red fuzzy sweater with a big Christmas tree on it. The ornaments were 3D, sticking off in little puff balls. He batted at one mindlessly with a paw.

"Aw. So cute." Adrien cooed in a mocking tone and he directed a glare at his chosen before turning his attention back to the admittedly entertaining puffballs.

"Well I think we look great." Tikki chirped, hovering over Marinette's desk and twirling to show off her own ugly sweater. She was decked in a green sweater featuring a cat with a Santa hat on it's head, the puff at the end being 3D as well. "Thank you, Marinette!"

"It's no problem! I thought it would be fun for us to all match!"

Plagg adored getting to see the confusion on Adrien's face. _Yeah, kid. Now you get to suffer with us_ , he mentally cheered with glee as Marinette dug a large sweater out of her closet. "This one is yours, Adrien!" She smiled brightly over at him and Plagg waited for the delicious fallout. 

As she held it up for display, Plagg took in the monstrosity that was Adrien's sweater with barely suppressed glee. It was dark green with patterns of snowflakes and a bunch of cat heads in a row and at the top it said "Meowy Christmas". Plagg swiveled his head around to watch Adrien so that he could see the moment the horror took over his face.

He was sorely disappointed. Because instead, Adrien looked like he was crying. No, no, no, no, he didn't want that! Sure, he wanted Adrien to feel his humiliation but he didn't want his kid to cry. The poor kid had enough tears to last all nine lifetimes!

"A-Adrien?" Marinette asked, suddenly very self conscious and falling back into the stutter that she had mostly conquered since their big reveal. "I'm... I'm so sorry, I should have asked your opinion on what you might want and I was-"

"No. I love it," Adrien sniffled, quickly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. All he managed to do was make his whole face wet, but it didn't seem to matter to him as he hurried to Marinette's side and gently pulled the sweater from her grasp before tugging it on over his head. "This is the best." And he hugged her. He hugged her without warning and she immediately knew that her face was the color of St. Nick's suit because she hadn't any time to prepare.

"You do?" She asked softly, uncertain what to do with her hands until Tikki gave her a very pointed look and she remembered how to hug again.

"Yeah. I've never really had traditions like this. Wearing ugly sweaters as a family isn't something we really do." Adrien sniffled again and pulled back, grinning down at her.

Of course. That made sense. Not only was Gabriel a fashion mogul, he wasn't exactly the warmest bulb in the bunch. Marinette bit back a frown, knowing well how poor his home life had been. But now he was happy, and she wanted to keep him happy, so she instead smiled at him. "I'm so happy you like it."

"Can I see yours?" He asked with a grin, stepping back away to give her space so that she could go get it.

"Yeah!" And she dove back into her closet again, coming back a moment later with a dark red sweater. Without further ado, she pulled it over her head. "So... what do you think?" On the front of her sweater there were a bunch of ladybugs and across the chest read "Bah Hum-BUG". 

"Wow." Adrien blinked at her, looking her up and down. "So cute."

Plagg, who had been pouting about his lack of entertainment, was please to witness some new entertainment coming about in the form of the pair of Chosen springing apart and babbling excuses at each other as their faces glowed bright red.


	3. Day 3: Peppermint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette brings some delicious treats in for the class!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided to at least attempt to link these together. We'll see how that goes :)   
> Also, this prompt gave me hell and I almost wrote a weird chapter about Gabriel's stupid red and white ascot before realizing I want nothing more than to use it to strangle him... so in keeping with the holiday spirit I figured that may not be the right way to go.

The classroom was nearly full, Adrien noted as he slipped inside. Unsurprisingly, the seat behind his own was still unoccupied but it was normal for Marinette to run a little behind schedule. And now he knew the reason why. Though they hadn't had a patrol the previous night, nor an akuma recently, it helped him to understand her habitual tardiness. According to Nino she had never been quite so bad before he had started going to their school. He took his seat and smiled to himself. She must have been up late working on a design then. He knew that she tended to get extremely focused when an idea struck and her creativity seemed to know no bounds.

So he didn't waste time with worry or questioning and instead pulled his tablet out from his book bag before turning to Nino with a grin and starting a simple conversation.

A conversation that didn't have much time to get deep because only a moment in and his attention was dragged away by the classroom door banging open. The whole class turned their attention to the front to see Marinette, huffing and puffing. "Safe!" She cried out before straightening up with a proud grin. She hurried to her desk and plopped down a large bakery box, but Adrien's eyes were only on her. Because he had been right. She _had_ been working on something. And she was wearing it, so obviously the late night had been worth it. At least his brain (and his eyes, and his blood, and his heart) thought so. As she stripped off her winter coat, he got an even better view of her new dress.

It was an off the shoulder dress with sleeves to the elbows. The top portion, down to her waist was a solid red. The skirt flared out from under a chunky black belt and was patterned to look like peppermint candy. She looked a treat. Adrien licked his lips and quickly forced himself to look to her smiling face as she situated her things. "Mari, you look..."

But he didn't get to finish because Alya burst into the room and immediately rushed over to tackle her best friend in a hug. "Girl!" She cried out. "You didn't tell me you finished it! Damn. You look hot." Alya smirked and gave her a playful smack to her backside.

"Alya!" Marinette admonished and swatted her hand away with a blush.

"What? Nino doesn't mind, do you babe?" Alya grinned over at said boyfriend.

Nino blinked and looked up from his phone and at his girlfriend. "Hmm?"

"Exactly! Ooh. What's in the box?"

As Marinette tried to get Alya to cool her jets (she must have had her coffee already), Adrien tried to cool his own. Alya had just smacked his lady's ass. He wanted to pout, mildly jealous that Alya and Marinette were close enough that she let the journalist get away with it. He, meanwhile, would be sent flying across the city if he so much as got caught looking at her bum. Not that he did that very often. Not that she could prove it, at least. Then again, his intentions and Alya's were probably a lot different. Not that he was anything but a gentleman, of course! Though the peppermint bottom was extremely tempted, he forced himself to turn back around to face the front and dropped his head to the desk with his eyes clenched shut. _Keep it together, you are Chat Noir. You are strong enough to fight monsters, you should be strong enough to have self-control._

"-Adrien?" Her voice cut through his thoughts and he quickly snapped up, blinking his eyes rapidly until the blurry figure sharpened into Marinette standing in front of him with the box she had brought in.

"Sorry. Kind of out of it," he muttered with a faint blush. "What was that?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted one? Papa tried a new recipe for peppermint brownies and he said to bring a bunch to share." She gestured to him with the box, now open he noted, and bit her lower lip.

"Oh. Oh, yeah totally! I love your dad's stuff." _That was smooth and not at all lame. Great._ He silently kicked himself and forced a smile instead, plucking a small brownie from the box. "Thanks Marinette!" and he watched as she continued onward to offer everyone in class (yes, even Chloe!) one of the delectable brownies. It was melting in his mouth as he ate it, and he couldn't help but watch her peppermint hips as she passed on by.


	4. Day 4: Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first snow of the season brings wonderment... and ammunition :)

"The rules are simple." Max announced, standing in the middle of the group that huddled together outside of the school. The whole lot of them were antsy, shifting in place and raring to go. "Once we arrive at the designated park, everyone has five minutes to prepare. Once the five minutes have passed, it is every man-"

"And woman!" Mylene chirped quickly.

"Yes, and of course woman," Max conceded with a smile, "for themselves. If you must leave, you will announce it via declaring yourself a 'Snow cone Sissy' at the gates of the park before you may be dismissed by Markov or myself. Markov, of course is off limits and will be acting as a referee if need be. If you are injured, retreat to Markov in the safe zone. Are there any questions?" He glanced around at his classmates.

"Come on, it's a snow ball fight, no one has questions! Let's go so I can kick Kim's ass already!" Alix smirked up at the tall boy next to her.

"Hah, you wish shrimp!" Kim crooned with his arms crossed.

"All right! Let's go!" Max turned and started leading the way along with his flying robot, Markov who had posted himself at Max's shoulder.

They marched down the street, heading to the nearby park that happened to be right down the street, all chattering excitedly to each other.

Alya was smiling and giggling with Marinette as they whispered to each other and Adrien had to restrain himself from trying to eavesdrop. Would it be too much to hope that they were talking about him? Nino leaned into his side and threw an arm around his shoulders. "You know I love you dude," Nino said, making Adrien quirk a brow in question. "But I'm gonna destroy you out there."

He snorted in response. "You can try."

As soon as the group passed the threshold into the park, they spread out, hurrying to gather up as much of the freshly fallen snow into ammunition as they could in the time limit that had been set. As soon as Markov's alarm started going off, all hell broke loose. Alya had holed up at the edge of the park against the gate, phone out in order to record the carnage. Nino stood at her side with a bountiful stock of ammo in order to defend his girlfriend. He was sweet like that. He grinned and aimed a ball as Chloe approached and snickered as she quickly darted away with a whine.

Kim and Alix were standing several meters apart and whipping snowballs at each other ferociously, barely taking time to breathe. "Surrender!" Kim demanded as soon as Alix was out. He still had a full stack waiting at his feet but she just smirked at him and ran straight for him, dodging a throw and swiping two of his balls that she promptly stuffed down the back of his jacket. "Shit! Cold, cold, cold!" He yelped and started doing a little dance as he tried to pry the rapidly melting snow out. Alix took the opportunity to run for cover and make some more snowballs for herself. 

Adrien, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. Lighthearted, good, old-fashioned fun. He laughed heartily as he tossed a ball at Marinette which she, of course, dodged with ease. He dodged her returning throw and delighted when she giggled and scurried out of sight behind a tree.

"Ugh, I am _not_ saying that, Markov, let me out! This is ridiculous! _Utterly ridiculous_!" Adrien turned his attention to see what the fuss was about only to see Chloe stomping in place in front of the little robot with a scowl on her face.

"I'm sorry, Miss Chloe, but the parameters Max set out were very clear."

Chloe grumbled, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and Adrien grinned when he heard her submit. "I'm ... I'm a snow cone sissy." His childhood friend had come a long way in the past couple of years, and he was proud. She certainly still had her problems but she was actively working through them.

"Very well, Miss Chloe. Have a good day!" Markov's screen lit up with a smiley face and he shifted to the side so that Chloe, wet and dripping with clumps of snow, was allowed to stomp off and head home for a hot bath. 

"Oh _kitty_." Adrien, unfortunately, had been distracted too long. And he turned around to see Marinette standing right next to him with a wicked grin on her lips that certainly didn't belong there. And then the world went cold.

Marinette cackled as she ran away and he took a moment to look down at himself. He was absolutely covered in snow. She had simply gathered as much snow into her arms as she possibly could and _tossed_ it at him.

He stared after her retreating form... and then grinned. "Oh, you messed up now, Princess!" He called out and darted after her laughing merrily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I may have laughed too hard at myself about Alix grabbing Kim's (snow) balls.
> 
> Edit 12/15/18: Thank you to user RandomMiraculousFan for pointing out I said Markus instead of Markov! :) I fixed it up. Thanks again!! I really appreciate it!


	5. Day 5: Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien enlists Nino's help to find Marinette the perfect present for their first post-reveal Christmas together. 
> 
> Nino is the best bro ever.

Adrien had begged Nino for a week. A whole week of wheedling, whining, promising to pay for a winter treat in return. And Nino, for his part, had been prepared to agree immediately, right after the first time he asked. However, Adrien hadn't let him get a word in edgewise with his desperate need for help. With shopping. For a present. For Marinette. And to be perfectly honest, it was amusing as all hell to see the normally composed model break rank in public for once to whine at him. It started out simple.

"Nino," Adrien called in greeting, his voice syrupy sweet as he darted out of his ride early in the morning before school. Nino had been lounging on the steps in wait for his bro to arrive and grinned at the blond when he approached.

"Hey, Adrien!" Nino smiled bright and bumped fists with him as soon as he took a seat beside him. "Sup?"

"I... I have a favor I want to ask you." Adrien turned absolutely red. And Nino blinked. He had never seen his friend that shade before. Before he could prod on the subject, Adrien continued on. "I need your help. I mean, I could probably do it. I guess. I don't know. I just don't know what's... well what's appropriate?" He twiddled his thumbs before starting to play with the strap of his bag and Nino was fully invested in his curiosity at that point. "I just... I want everything to be perfect, you know? I really... I can't mess this up. If I mess this up then we'll never have a hamster."

What the hell? A hamster? "Huh?"

"Oh. Uh. Nothing, nothing." Adrien forced a laugh that sounded entirely too fake.

Was it possible his best friend had started dabbling in drugs? He heard stories about older models doing certain things to relax backstage but... he shook his head. No way. His boy was way too clean cut and dorky to ever do that. No, this was all Adrien. Albeit awkward Adrien, but still. "Okay dude, spit it out." Nino said flatly, hoping to get him to spill finally.

And help it did. "I need your help finding a present for Marinette!"

Nino's mouth dropped open. Because sure, he knew that Adrien had always thought Marinette was a swell gal, a great friend. But _this_ was not Adrien asking for help to get his friend something. Adrien was falling. Or had already fallen. Holy shit, Alya was going to flip.

Adrien took Nino's silence to mean he was _not_ on board and spent the next ten minutes pleading. And begging. And wheedling. Until they finally had to go to class. And Nino still hadn't managed to pull himself together. And by the time he had, he realized how incredibly amusing it was to watch Adrien flounder over his newfound affections for the girl. And after seeing Marinette act like that toward Adrien for years, it seemed like poetic justice to ride it out for a little while. Sure, he felt a little bad for doing it to his buddy, but Alya wholeheartedly approved and watched on with glee. But after a week, Nino finally decided that was enough torture and agreed.

And so they found themselves out shopping. Nino repressed a shudder, looking up at the mall that towered over them like the gates of hell.

"Okay, bro. So what's the game plan?"

"Game plan?" Adrien blinked innocently. 

"Oh, shit. Please tell me you're kidding."

Apparently his best bro was dragging him into a mall, a couple weeks from Christmas, with absolutely no idea what he was looking for. They were going to be there all day. Nino's gaze wandered to the Gorilla who stood quietly behind them to find the same exasperated look on the normally stoic man. The look screamed _I do not get paid enough for this bullshit._

"You have no idea what you want to look for? Anything?"

Adrien blinked again. And Nino pitied his friend. And himself. And the poor, hulking Gorilla. 

This was going to be a very, very long day.


	6. Day 6: Fuzzy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. Pure, fuzzy fluff.

Chat Noir was in heaven. He was warm, safe, and best of all he was with his lady. She sat at his side on her chaise lounge, humming to herself as she sketched out a design in her sketchbook and let him curl up at her side, huddled under a giant, fuzzy blanket. He rubbed his face into the fabric and let a purr roll out from the center of his chest. _Could this be what heaven was like?_ he questioned himself as the fingers of her free hand reached out and gently scratched his head. "This is the softest thing I have ever felt and I think I could die happy." he said allowed, shoving his face into the softness with another purr.

Marinette paused in her drawing as a laugh burst out of her lips. "You, kitty, are exaggerating."

"Am not." He pouted and looked up at her through his eyelashes. "This is the most comfortable thing I've ever felt in my entire life."

She raised an eyebrow at him, obviously still not buying it. But he was too busy rubbing his face against the blanket again to notice. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you in a cashmere sweater. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was like a week or two ago."

He huffed and stopped his movements to look up at her again. "It's not the same, Princess." It was hard to put into words, why it was different. At least, it was hard to put into words without embarrassing himself. He couldn't exactly outright tell her it was because of her. A cashmere sweater was all well and good but she hadn't made it. She wasn't curled up next to him while he wore it. It was just a sweater. This blanket, meanwhile, was like coming home. It was the whole package. But he couldn't say that. Not without making things awkward as hell. And he was enjoying himself too much at her side. He didn't want to ruin this perfect atmosphere they had going so when she gave him another questioning look he merely shrugged and snuggled back into the fuzzy world of the big pink blanket.

Apparently she was satisfied with the shrug, because she gave one of her own and picked up her pencil to return to her sketching. He scooted a little closer, keeping the blanket up to his chin. And he peered over at the sketchbook. She grinned wickedly and quickly swiped the book out of his view. "No-no. No peeking." she chided, holding it up high and away from him. His lips curled into a small pout. "Come on, now. You don't want to ruin the surprise, do you?"

Well _that_ piqued his interest. "Oho, you're making something for me?" His cat ears perked up straight. "Come on. A little peek won't hurt." He strained up without really trying, simply stretching his neck out.

"It most certainly will. If you try, I'll be very upset with you." She lectured, using her free hand to flick him on the nose. He scrunched it up with a scowl and retreated.

"Fine, fine. I'll be a good cat." he snuffled and retreated under the blanket again, watching as she waited until she was satisfied that he would really behave. She pulled the sketchbook back to her lap and went back to her drawing.

Her humming started up again as she sketched and he closed his eyes, resting his head up against her leg. Everything was fuzzy, and warm, and good. And with that last thought he dropped off into a blissful slumber. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will admit that this was very last minute and as such is a bit rushed, so I apologized. But I did want to make it just something sweet and fluffy.


	7. Day 7: Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mme. Bustier's class holds their Secret Santa gathering Friday at lunch.

Marinette was wiggling in her seat, impatient as her eyes remained locked on the clock that was situated on the wall above their teacher's head. _Almost_... her brain whispered. She wasn't the only one. All of the students were fixated on the time, staring up at it with barely contained glee. Even Chloe had given up on the 'cool as a cucumber' image in order to fixate. _And..._

The bell rang shrilly and everyone grinned in tandem. "All right, all right." Mme. Bustier smiled at the lot of them. "Everyone have their gifts?"

"Yes, Mme. Bustier!" The entire group chorused, most of them fishing their hand-wrapped presents from underneath their desks. Marinette, however, was already prepared with her neat little package sitting in front of her on the desktop.

"We'll start from the back of our room then and work our way up." Mme. Bustier instructed. Marinette was practically vibrating in her seat. She tried as hard as she could to tamper down on her nerves, her excitement, to stop herself from staring a whole through the back of Adrien's head. She had the luck (duh) to draw his name when they had chosen Secret Santa recipients at the end of November. And she had gotten him something almost immediately. And then made something. And another something. And another. Every time she thought she had settled on the perfect gift for her chaton, she thought of something better. 

Unfortunately, that left her with a pile of gifts sitting in her bedroom. Though tempted by the thought more than once, she knew better than to bury him in gifts in front of the whole class. It was too much. This was supposed to be a simple secret Santa, first of all, and she couldn't steal the focus away from everyone else. This was for the whole class, not just her and ~~the love of her life~~ her partner. Second of all, Chloe would have an aneurysm. The Queen had certainly gotten better at controlling her anger, had been making progress in trying to be kind and not snap to judgment. However, Marinette knew she probably shouldn't push the poor girl.

So that left her with the nigh impossible task of choosing the right one to give him. In front of everyone. Her heart had been a mess for the entire week leading up to their exchange. And now, it was finally Friday, and she prayed that she chose right. 

She watched anxiously as her classmates went around, one by one, delivering their presents. Everyone's faces lit up with pure, unadulterated joy each time they opened their presents. Even Chloe quirked a smile as she opened her present from Alya to find a framed picture of Chloe and Ladybug, one that Alya took from a video from the Ladyblog when Ladybug had last had to save Chloe, with the red-clad heroine holding the heiress princess-style and running through the street. And then it was Marinette's turn.

She was certain she could feel her heart stuck in her throat and swallowed hard, but plastered on a smile. It felt like she was back to where they were before the big reveal again, her brain a scrambled mess as she stepped down next to his desk. "F-f-for you," She said, thrusting the package out at Adrien with all the grace of a drunk hippopotamus. He blinked wide eyes up at her before accepting it with the softest smile. It had been a while since he had seen her so flustered. It was cute.

He carefully opened the bag, rifling through the tissue paper until he reached the destination and pulled out... "Fuzzy pink socks?" Nino asked with a strange look on his face.

And then Marinette realized how weird that would look. In front of the whole class. Her whole face turned cherry red. She had to fix this. "I mean, it was just... you liked... the blanket and it was soft and you liked that it was soft and I still had some material so I thought you would like some socks from the same material..." She quickly tried to explain, tried to make him, make everyone understand the reasons she had, for some dumb reason, thought this had been the perfect idea. "I just... I'm sorry, I can bring you something else, I have-"

"It's perfect." Adrien whispered, effectively cutting her off and bringing the pair of pink, fuzzy socks up to his cheek to nuzzle against them. "We literally just talked about this _yesterday_. Marinette, how did you manage to make these so fast?"

She blinked at him dumbly. He wasn't embarrassed? Her blush faded, if only slightly as she studied him to be sure he wasn't just putting on one of his famous model smiles. But no, it was genuine. He was _happy_. And that made her happy, and her heart was suddenly soaring.

"You're amazing. Thank you!" He crooned and popped out of his seat, throwing his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"You're welcome." She whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's only just occurred to me that I'm using the prompts from 2017? Lol WHOOPS! First year doing this, and I really didn't know how to find any sort of 'designated prompts list' so I just kinda went with it. I hope no one minds!


	8. Day 8: Jingle Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir isn't the only hero showing up with bells on.

The night air was cool. Not even just cool, it was frigid. But his face felt like it was on fire. He kept sneaking glances over at his partner as they sat perched on top of Notre Dame, making sure to look away again before he could be caught in the act. But Chat couldn't stop glancing back every few seconds. He couldn't help himself. She was so...

"Cute..."

"What?" Ladybug blinked and turned to look at him, setting off a soft jingling as the bells she had tied into her pigtails jiggled with her movements.

"Er. I said. Shoot. I forgot to do the reading assignment." Chat said, coughing into his hand. Yep. Super nonchalant, A+, Chat, she'll never suspect a thing.

And though she quirked a brow at him, she let it drop and turned her attention back out to look over their city. "Ah. Which one?"

"Which what?"

Smooth.

"Oh. Right," Chat coughed again and stared at the moon like it was going to give him a way out. "The uh... the history reading."

"Oh. Well it wasn't that long. But if you're worried about it we can wrap up here. We did a round and I don't think we'll be hearing any akuma alarms tonight. At least I hope so."

Chat snorted. "Knowing my luck, I wouldn't count on it." He muttered, standing up and stretching his arms out high above his head.

"And knowing _my_ luck, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," Marinette giggled and stood up next to him, reaching out and gently placing her hand on his shoulder. "So why don't you go home, get cozy in your nice new socks, and read in bed? Hmm?"

That smile. Ugh. The heat was crawling down his neck at this point and he was certain she could see it. But he forced a casual smile. "Sounds like an idea of a good night." His treacherous brain hissed that it would be better if she would join him. Batting away the delightful but terrible thought, he placed his hand on hers. "Thanks Bugaboo. I, uh... I like the bells by the way."

And her blush was so worth the awkward heat and butterflies that was threatening to consume him. And he let the memory of her pink cheeks carry him all the way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ffffff I totally had such an off day today so this almost didn't get out in time.
> 
> I've been writing these chapters each day. So there's no real editing, no big preparation aside from the prompt itself... so that's why this one is very short. But I hope the cute factor makes up for it :) I'm trying to nudge them in the right direction. Also I'll try and work on making a couple of the chapters into something longer!


	9. Day 9: Marshmallows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't have cocoa without marshmallows!

Marinette smiled as she lounged on her bed, doodling on her sketchpad and glancing up through her skylight hatch every few moments. Not long now.

And, as she expected, a soft thud sounded and the next time she peered up she was met with the grin of her partner. "Come in!" She beckoned, crooking her finger at him before scooting to the side so he could drop in. He obeyed and carefully maneuvered so as not to dirty her bed sheets. "Good evening, princess." Chat Noir said with a dramatic bow.

"Hi, Chat." She grinned. "Why don't you get comfortable? I'll go get some cocoa." She set her sketchbook on the bed beside her and hopped up, stretching slightly. She winced away from the bright green flash but it dissolved into a smile as she felt Plagg nuzzle against her cheek. "Be right back."

"All right!" Chat, now Adrien, smiled brightly at her and followed her down the steps from the loft so he could take a seat on the lounge. Plagg zipped off to practically tackle Tikki out of the air and they tumbled onto a pile of fabric set aside on the floor near her mannequin.

"Sugar Cube!" Plagg cried out, nuzzling against the little red bug with pure glee. Tikki sighed heavily and rolled her eyes but patted the little cat kwami.

"Stop calling me that." She chided as she pet him. Adrien smirked. The scene was so familiar, having experienced nearly the same thing with his lady over and over again. He perked up as he heard the hatch open and swiveled to see Marinette emerging, carefully balancing a tray. He popped up off the chaise and hurried over to her, quickly taking the tray. He felt his face heat slightly as she smiled in thanks and hurried up the steps.

She settled down on the floor next to the chaise and beamed up at him and it took him a moment to get his brain started again. But eventually he made it to her side, carefully sitting down and setting the tray before them. "You tired?" She asked softly, reaching forward so that she could pour them each a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

Truth be told, he was pretty tired. It had been a long day of photo shoots and fittings. And after the fact he had to get through his homework, speeding through it as fast as he could so that he could make it in time to hang out with her before they were both too tired to enjoy each other's company. But he just smiled and shook his head. "Nope!" He grinned, accepting the mug from her and raising it to his lips to take a sip.

"Woah, woah, woah, what do you think you're doing?" Marinette asked with wide eyes and he paused, rim just barely touching his lower lip. "Put it down that instant, chaton!" He obeyed and blinked wide, green eyes at her in confusion.

"Wh-what did I do?" He asked, almost sounding hurt.

She blinked... and then laughed. "Oh! Oh, no, nothing chaton it's just... have you never properly enjoyed hot cocoa before?"

"I've had hot chocolate." He pouted, crossing his arms after setting his mug down. Just how sheltered did she think he was? (Very, the answer was very. And she wouldn't be far off, either)

"Well, not with me, you haven't." She grinned and quickly picked his mug up, setting it before herself again. She grabbed a bag from the tray that he hadn't really paid attention to before and ripped it open, several little white bits falling out and over the floor. "Whoops." she giggled and set the bag down so she could clean up her mess before returning her attention to the task at hand. And dumping in enough that he couldn't see the creamy brown of his cocoa anymore. "There! Much better!" He blinked and tilted his head. "Marshmallows. You can't have cocoa without marshmallows! It's sacrilege!"

He blinked... and then shrugged, accepting the mug from her when she held it back out for him. He stared at it, watching as the little marshmallows started to melt into the cocoa before turning his attention to her absolutely covering her own cocoa with unrestrained glee. And then he raised it to his lips... "Woah." he muttered, and took another sip. It was so much better like this!

"I know, right?" She grinned, drinking from her own. "Next you're going to tell me you've never had a hot fudge sundae with all the fixings."

He blinked at her again. It seemed to be a habit that evening.

"No way..."

"Er. I've never even had a hot fudge sundae," he muttered, a weak chuckle falling from his lips before he covered it with another sip.

"Oh, chaton. I'm going to make sure you get to experience so many things." She smiled, soft and sweet, gently patting his knee. He warmed, smiled, and downed the rest of his cocoa, heart singing at the promise of her words.


	10. Day 10: Decorating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ms. Bustier's class gets festive af

Monday. Ah, Monday. The first day of the school week. Marinette was having trouble dragging herself out of bed. The start of the week was always the hardest in terms of getting herself to leave her bed. It didn't help that she had stayed up the night before with Adrien, giggling over their hot cocoa and talking about everything and nothing. Her heart thrummed in her chest at the memory. She stared at the feeling as she thought. She hadn't exactly figured out how to handle her feelings after the big reveal. Things hadn't exactly been... easy. Life had just gone on as though nothing had happened and she felt like she hadn't had a real, good chance to just figure out what to do. It was bad enough being head over heels for Adrien. They had become closer friends even before they found out each others' identities and that made her concerned about confessing and ruining things. But now? Now it was even scarier. This was the boy that she saved Paris with. If something went wrong, if he decided he didn't see her that way, then what would happen to their partnership? She shouldn't be risking the safety of their city. 

But a selfish part of her wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him and ask if she was enough. He said he was happy it was her, that night. Right after she had said it, he grinned and confirmed he felt the same relief.

But after that? Nothing seemed to change. 

Well, not nothing. They hung out together more. Both as their civilian selves and their superhero counterparts.

She groaned and pulled the covers up over her eyes only for them to be ripped away and Marinette found herself staring up at a grumpy Tikki. "Marinette, please turn off the alarm. It won't do it without your password." She begged. The alarm was blaring loudly and Marinette grimaced, turning over and murmuring an apology as she unlocked her phone so that she could silence it. As it was finally quiet, Tikki sighed in relief and a smile took over her little red face. "Good morning, Marinette!" She chirped.

"G'morning," Marinette responded gruffly. Upon glancing at her phone, she realized it was time to get up. It must have been going off for a while whilst she spent her time mulling over her thoughts. With a loud groan, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and proceeded to get ready for school.

"Two more weeks until Christmas!" Tikki chirped and sped away to munch on a cookie in her stash.

When Marinette arrived at school, Alya was already waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, grinning brightly and waving. "Morning, girl!" She greeted, throwing her arm around Marinette's shoulders. "You excited?"

"Hmm? Excited for what?" Marinette asked, stifling a yawn behind her hand.

"Classroom decorating. Remember?" Nope. She really didn't remember. "We talked about it as a class on Friday after the gift exchange?" Ah. That would explain it. She had been in fantasy land after Adrien had called her amazing. She could feel her cheeks heating up at the mere memory of his bright smile while he complimented her. "Anyway. We're taking up home room to make the classroom all holiday-tastic." Alya obviously had guessed that she, indeed, did not remember hearing such news and just told her instead of dragging it out. "So come on. I want to get my decorating on!"

"Okay," Marinette giggled and followed as Alya led them into the school and to their homeroom. Mme. Bustier smiled brightly at them as they entered. They still had a few moments before homeroom actually started but several of their classmates had already started working on decorating the room. There was tinsel lined up around the whiteboard, sparkling and colorful. Kim was working on stringing some lights around the windows.

"Marinette, Alya. Would you mind cutting out some snowflakes?" Mme. Bustier asked.

"Yes, Mme!" they crooned in chorus and fetched some white paper to get started on their task.

Just before the bell rang, Adrien and Nino popped into the now full classroom, grinning and chatting with each other and Marinette's eyes caught on his and she felt her face go hot... and then she yelped when she cut herself with the scissors. Damn distracting, adorable smile of his. His eyes widened and he quickly excused himself from Nino's side to hurry to hers.

"Marinette, are you okay?" He asked, bending down to pick up her hand gently with his own. Marinette did not have to be looking at Alya to know she was sporting a gleeful expression. He pouted at her finger like it had offended him. "You're bleeding."

"It's not so bad," She said quietly and started to pull her hand back but his grip tightened on her wrist and he turned to the teacher.

"Mme. Bustier, may I take Marinette to the nurse to get some antiseptic and a bandaid?" The woman looked over to the pair and smiled before granting permission. Surely Marinette could go by herself, but it was still homeroom and there were no seriously pressing matters so she would allow it.

And so the partners found themselves walking down the empty hall. "Sorry." Marinette said quietly. "I'm such a klutz sometimes."

He snorted and shoved his hands into his pockets. "You say that like it's not the cutest thing in the world." His voice was quiet, but she heard it and he didn't realize for a moment that she had stopped in her tracks, blushing a bright red. When he did notice, he paused and looked back to her, finding her only mildly pink as she had managed to fight down the blush quickly in desperation for self preservation. "Marinette? You coming?"

She nodded rapidly and quickly hurried to his side. But the remaining trip to the nurse was quiet. So was the trip back to the classroom. She must have heard him wrong. Or maybe she heard him right but she was taking it the wrong way. If she had learned anything as they had grown closer, Adrien was an extremely affectionate person with his close friends. She had known that about Chat, so technically she knew the same about Adrien but to hear him say something like that had absolutely _wrecked_ her.

They entered the classroom and both stopped to stare in awe. In the mere five minutes they had taken away, the room had really come together. Tinsel and lights everywhere, a tiny fake tree decked out with little ornaments, a menorah with fake candles all lined up carefully and the snowflakes Marinette and Alya had been cutting were hanging from fishing line from the ceiling. "Woah." Adrien grinned. "This is really cool. I wish I got to decorate like this."

Marinette blinked at him and suddenly felt guilt crawl up her throat. He should have stayed to decorate and let her go on her own. She remembered the last Christmas and how cold his home had been before their class had taken over. He really deserved the joys of celebrating like this; decorating, singing carols, making (and of course eating) cookies and curling up by the fireplace.

"A-Adrien!" She said so loud that most of their classmates turned to look at the pair of them standing in the door. She blushed but pushed through it. "I, uh... We're going to be decorating our tree tomorrow. You should... you should come!" She felt her tongue drying up and, coward that she was, she turned to Alya and Nino. "You guys should come too! We could have a lot of fun!"

"Awesome! Sounds good, dude!" Nino smiled and offered a thumbs up.

"You know it, girl!" Was Alya's response.

"I'd love to." 

It was Adrien's words that echoed in her head for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So obviously I'm setting up for tomorrow's prompt. And I AM trying to figure out how best to finagle some romance into place, I'm working on it. Also, I TOLD you that I'd try and make some longer chapters to make up for that pitifully short one!


	11. Day 11: The Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dupain-Cheng household has Marinette's friends over to help decorate their tree

Marinette thought she might throw up. She had paced around her room so much since she had gotten home from school that she was pretty sure there should have been clear track marks ground into her path. It was getting close to time. The bakery would be closing soon. They would have dinner... and then Alya, Nino, and Adrien would show up to help her family decorate their tree. It had seemed like such a good idea yesterday. But now she was starting to doubt herself. Her parents were awesome, truly, but they didn't really know how to hold back on the teasing. And she was dreading being absolutely humiliated in front of Adrien. Adrien, who was Chat. Who she still hadn't figured out how to approach considering her feelings. Or whether she was even going to approach him or not.

She groaned and stalled in her pacing for a moment so that she could press her hands against her eyes.

"Everything will go great, Marinette!" Tikki chirped, flitting up to sit before her face as her charge withdrew her hands.

"I... Ok, logically I know that. But anxiety knows no logic, Tikki," Marinette said, a soft whine taking over at the end. "My stomach is doing gymnastics."

"Just breathe! You're going to end up having fun, I promise."

Before she had the chance to say anything, she heard her mother and father's voices calling to her. She groaned again and tugged at her pigtails.

"Go on. I'll be up here. Send Plagg up when you can." And with a wink, Tikki retreated to the loft bed to cuddle up in the blankets.

Marinette hurried on down to find her smiling parents already chatting with Alya. "Girl!" Alya cried upon seeing her and flung herself at her best friend to give her a tight hug. "I am _so_ proud of you!"

"Us, too." Sabine smiled softly, leaning into her husband. "It's always nice to have _all_ of you over."

Marinette had to fight not to roll her eyes at her mother's insinuation. _Please, please, please don't embarrass me in front of Adrien._

"Ooh, nice tree!" Alya crooned, releasing Marinette to observe the fat evergreen in the corner of the living room. "You guys really picked a good one this year."

"Always!" Tom grinned proudly. "Best on the lot!" He had always been a huge fan of Christmas, especially the decorating. The store windows had been all done up with decor, he had strung lights all along the outside, and the inside was full of boxes upon boxes of decorations, most of which had been emptied and put to the side. 

A knock sounded at the door, turning the heads of the four of them and before Sabine could make it two steps, Marinette dashed over to get it. "I got it, maman!" She cried out on her way, almost stumbling but managing to catch herself at the last moment before she wrenched the door open. "H-hi guys! Come on in."

Nino and Adrien were both there, smiling bright so she stood to the side to let them enter and shut the door behind them before peering at her parents with a warning look, trying once again to telepathically tell them not to embarrass her.

"Nino, Adrien!" Sabine cooed, approaching the pair and immediately going in for hugs. "It's so lovely to see you!" Well at least her mother had gotten the message (thus far).

"Hello Madame Cheng," Adrien said.

"Sabine, dear, call me Sabine."

"Er, yes, right."

"Heyyyy, nice tree dudes!" Nino grinned and approached Alya, throwing his arm around her and kissing her on the cheek. Alya smiled and nudged him in the side, proclaiming she had just said the same. Great minds. 

"Shall we get started then?" Tom asked through a chuckle as he fussed with the CD player on top of the cupboard, starting up some Christmas music.

"Yeah!" Alya and Nino cried out simultaneously and dove in at the same time as Tom, going through the full boxes to get the lights out and start stringing them around the branches. Adrien hung back as Sabine hurried over to help untangle the strands and Marinette scooted over to his side.

"Hey," She said, trying to bat away the shyness that had crawled into her tone.

"Hi." He returned, and she realized that his cheeks were a soft pink. It could be from the cold outside but she suspected it was from the hug he had gotten from her mother. She suspected he needed more hugs in his life. She smiled softly and gently leaned against his side, their arms pressed together. It seemed to bring him back to earth and he blinked before turning his gaze on her. He cleared his throat. "Uh... so what should I do?"

"Hm? Anything really. Anything goes with us. It's all about getting all of the ornaments on the tree without tipping it over. There's a lot." She grinned and glanced over to him to find him smiling softly. Oh no. She felt her cheeks heat up and quickly looked back to the tree to see that the lights had already been fully set up. "Welp, let's go!" She declared, deflecting his attention as best she could by grabbing his hand and tugging him over to the boxes, picking a random ornament out and thrusting it into his hands. He blinked at her a couple of times before shrugging and shuffling over to the tree, weaving around their friends to get up close and pick a spot.

And so they went about it, trying their best to put the ornaments up. Adrien was doing his best to make some sort of decisions on how to set it up in a pattern but he quickly gave up on the prospect. There were just so many ornaments.

At one point, Marinette ran right into him as he was moving to put another onto the tree but he stopped her and smiled brightly. "Is this you?" He asked, holding up the little ornament that had a picture of a baby with fat cheeks and the stupidest look. She groaned heavily.

"Yes," She muttered, hanging her head.

"You were a cute baby." He said it so nonchalantly that she didn't know how exactly how to react. Part of her wanted to explode and another part wanted to ask _why_ he would even think that. Sure, there were some photos of her as a baby that were more flattering but the one he held was the most horrid picture there was of her (which is why, every year, she had surreptitiously spirited it away to place it at the back of the tree where no one would see it). Much to her dismay, before she could think of how to react, he skirted around her to put it front and center and admire his placement.

"Ooh, I love that picture! That's the face she would make when-"

"Papa!" Marinette cried out quickly, absolutely mortified that her father would even think for a moment that was an appropriate thing to bring up to her friends.

"What?" Tom managed to look put out by her interruption, but the glint in his eyes showed that he had been teasing her from the start. She huffed and stomped her foot, giving him a soft glare.

"Now, now, dear, be nice to your daughter. She's the one who gets to decide what kind of home we go in when we're old." Sabine chided, slipping around the giant man in order to carefully put another ornament on the tree.

"Hah!" Marinette grinned at her now full-on pouting papa. Adrien was trying to muffle his laughter and failing. And for a moment she stopped and stared at him. Because while part of her wanted to be upset he was laughing at her, another part of her realized how much he was enjoying himself, getting this experience. This _normal_ experience that he hadn't had in so very long, if ever. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest, almost to the beat of Santa Baby as it played in the background. Gods, she _loved_ this boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized I doubled up on Gift/Secret Santa for an earlier chapter so I'll get to throw the previously discarded prompt in, in place of that one. :) It all worked out in the end. But I also wanted to mention I'm planning on getting them together by the end of this :) so the romance will be there at some point!


	12. Day 12: Christmas Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our favorite pair of partners unwind after a long day with each other.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were _exhausted_. They had just fought an akuma that wouldn't go down for two hours of straight fighting.

So it was no surprise that when Marinette and Adrien returned to her balcony, they all but flopped down through the hatch and onto the surface of her bed, groaning and panting and wishing Hawkmoth would get a sense of holiday cheer already.

They had planned to hang out, to do homework, to chat that evening. But neither really felt like they could do anything at all at the moment, so they merely rolled over in order to sit up against Marinette's headboard and gave another tandem groan.

"That was awful." Adrien finally broke the silence between them after several moments of basking in their tired misery.

"Yup." Marinette concurred with a sharp head nod. The kwamis nodded along in agreement, already having settled down below them upon her desk.

"I could sleep for a week and it wouldn't be enough."

"Yup." She agreed again.

"Mari... I'm going to be honest, I don't think I can work on that project tonight." Adrien said softly, glancing over at her without even turning his head.

"Oh thank god, I was hoping you'd say that," and with that she let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Do you... uh, do you still want to hang out though?" She tried so very hard not to sound as desperately hopeful as she felt. Yes, they were both wrecked, but she loved their new relaxed dynamic (well, mostly relaxed except for when her nerves reminded her how much she loved him).

"Yeah, of course!" He was almost too quick to say it and had to stop himself from cringing at his own desperation. He wouldn't trade time with his lady for anything, even a very well deserved nap that he very much needed.

"Okay," She said with a soft smile, "Well. Do you want to watch a Christmas movie? That way we can just relax and not even move. Unless you want me to go get snacks and stuff. I can do that."

"Nah, I'm okay. Let's just watch something," He smiled at her and watched intently as she stretched. And then he felt his heart rate spike as she moved to stretch over him in order to pluck her tablet up off the bedside table that was next to his side and had to recite to himself not to freak out. Which, to be fair, was in itself a freak out. _Do not freak out, do not freak out, do not freak out. She's not even touching you, you loser. Oh god her hair smells nice. How does it smell nice when we just spent hours fighting? Wait, don't smell her hair that's creepy, what is wrong with you Agreste?_

As he proceeded to curse himself in his brain, Marinette started to set up one of the various streaming services so that they could pick something together. "Wow, that's a _lot_ of Christmas movies." She breathed out, opening up the section that had specifically been set up for the holidays.

Adrien forced himself to refocus and leaned in closer so that he could look over her shoulder at the selection. "Huh. Yeah it really is." And then he had to suppress the urge to laugh. "What the heck is _Bad Santa_?" He asked. It sounded like a truly terrible porn. "It's rated R? What kind of Christmas movie is rated R?"

"Probably one we shouldn't watch together." Marinette said, quickly scrolling past the title. No way in hell was she watching something like that with Adrien. Yes, he was her Chat. No, she wasn't prepared to share raunchy comedies with him. Not yet, anyway. 

"Not even the sequel?" he teased with a wicked grin as he nudged his shoulder against hers. She flushed but kept her gaze pointed at the screen, absolutely determined to keep her cool (as much as she had left anyway).

"No." She was firm and continued to scroll. "Oh. This one looks terrible! Let's watch it." She grinned, turning to look at him to find him giving her a confused look.

"If it's terrible why would we watch it?" He questioned, reading over the truly silly description.

"So we can laugh at how bad it is, of course." She explained simply. When he shrugged his approval, she started up the movie and they settled in against the pillows to watch. She leaned gently against his side, sure not to crowd him too much. But he had no problem with the closeness and casually slung an arm around her shoulders so they could be more comfortable.

And then he proceeded to have an internal freak out. _Was that... was that okay? Holy shit I didn't even ask if she would be okay with that. I mean, friends do this kind of thing I think, right? So it should be okay. I think. Probably. I hope it is because I don't want to move now_. It was too comfortable. Too warm. too perfect.

Little did he know she was dealing with her own mini freak out. _Oh my gods he put his arm around me. What do I do? Tikki?!_ Her eyes darted over to look at her kwami only to find the little red god was curled up with Plagg, napping on a little pillow on the chaise below. _Damn it. Okay. Okay. This is normal, I can do this. Friends do this. Alya does this with me all the time. Just picture Alya. With less boobs. He doesn't mean anything by it. Probably. Right?_

And so they both missed the first fifteen minutes due to overthinking their current position. But when they finally tuned in, they found it didn't matter much. Their brains were too tired, first from the akuma battle and then from worrying over everything. And before the thirty minute mark, they had fallen asleep leaning against each other with the terrible movie forgotten. 


	13. Day 13: Christmas Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up the next morning is a little awkward... but cookies make everything better, right?

Waking up at two in the morning cuddled against each other had proven... interesting. The pair babbled excuses at each other before Adrien hurriedly transformed and bolted so that he could run home.

The next day in school was a bit of a test because of it. Marinette had fallen back into stuttering through the first of their classes. And the second. All the way through lunch. Adrien had adopted a stammer of his own. Alya and Nino watched on in absolute confusion. Finally, when lunch arrived, Alya dragged her best friend off to have lunch together for some girl time so she could figure out what the hell happened. And Nino did the same with Adrien.

Adrien sat across from Nino in a booth at a little corner cafe that they tended to go to whenever he was allowed to do what he wanted for lunch. His stare was fixated on he straw before he batted it absentmindedly... and then Nino decided to broach the subject. Now, Nino was never one to be too nosy. But it was just so out of character for Adrien. He wanted to make sure his best bro was okay. "Hey, you all right, dude?" He asked simply.

Adrien sighed heavily and slouched into his seat. "I'm... I'm great. Really. I am. I'm just... frustrated."

"Can I help?"

"No."

"Kay... well if you need to talk I'm here." And Nino, being the laid back dude he was, let it go when Adrien nodded in return.

Marinette, on the other hand, was not quite so lucky.

" _Tell me_!" Alya wheedled for the tenth time since they had walked through the bakery door... two minutes ago. Marinette groaned and plopped down in a seat at her family kitchen table, burying her face in her hands. "Come on Mari, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing happened!" Marinette exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. Alya gave her a look. But what was she supposed to say? _Oh yeah Adrien came over last night in a leather cat suit and then we fell asleep cuddling?_ Yeah. That was going to end well. But the reporter was not going to let it go. She had sniffed out a scoop and she would never let it go now that she smelt blood in the water. "Really. It's just that..." She sighed. Maybe if she stuck with a half-truth Alya would let it drop. She swallowed hard and put her head in her hands again. "Adrien and I have managed to get so much closer. I barely stutter... we're friends. We're great friends. And it's confusing me."

"That's great! But why is it confusing you?" Alya prompted, unpacking her bagged lunch and gesturing for Marinette to do the same. When she made no move to do so, Alya's mother-hen-mode turned on and she set Mari's lunch out for her.

"I really like being his friend but I still love him." Marinette said weakly, letting her hands drop dead to her sides as she watched Alya carefully unwrap her sandwich for her.

"So?"

"So!" Marinette made yet another exasperated noise. "So, I don't want to ruin our friendship. If he doesn't feel the same, it will be so awkward, everything will change. And Alya, he _needs_ friends. Desperately. And he deserves them. I don't want to ruin that for him." Alya didn't stop her mothering until she thrust the sandwich into Marinette's hands.

"Okay. Do you want my opinion?"

_No_ , is what she wanted to say, but she knew it didn't matter. So she shrugged and took a bite of the sandwich.

"You're worrying over nothing. Yeah, that boy needs friends. But Mari, he likes you back. I know it. I can _feel_ it. You two need to stop being such scaredy cats-" _Heh, he'd like that pun._ "-and just go for it."

"Alya, you can't know that. You can't."

"Okay," Alya conceded, taking a bite of her own food and swallowing before continuing on her tirade of support. "Even if there is an iota of a chance he would reject you, your friendship wouldn't be ruined. Marinette, I know you. You're the most amazing girl I have ever met, aside from Ladybug. Sorry, but superhero, you know?"

Marinette snorted. Oh, if only Alya knew...

"And Adrien is a sweet boy. It may not be a perfect, smooth friendship for a while. But I know you'll still be tight. Because that's who you are."

And somehow, Marinette managed to feel a little bit better.

At least until her mother popped into the kitchen with a big smile. "Hello Marinette, hello Alya!" She greeted before setting a few bags on the counter, getting to work on storing things away. "I have the ingredients for you right here, got them up from the bakery for you so when you two come home all you have to do is get to work!" And with a smile and a kiss to Marinette's forehead, she was off again heading back down to work.

"Uh. What was that about?" Alya asked. Marinette tried not to shriek. She really did. She failed.

When the girls returned to school, Alya was speaking calming words and carefully rubbing Marinette's shoulders in attempt to get her to cool it.

But Marinette had completely forgotten. Today Adrien was coming over. He cleared a spot in his schedule, cleared it with his dad, all so he could hang out and make Christmas cookies for the first time with her. Her heart wasn't just pounding in her chest, it was trying to carve a path through her rib cage so it could escape and go out on the town.

It was a wonder she made it through the day without passing out, or straight up dying. But the final bell rang, and she was standing in front of Adrien as they both shuffled their feet. "Save some cookies for me!" Alya chirped, nudging Marinette gently in attempts to snap her out of it.

Thank goodness for Alya, because she finally stood to attention. "Uh, right. We should get going."

"O-okay." Adrien nodded and mechanically followed her out. 

Their walk to the bakery was silent. But that all changed when they stepped into the warm shop because Tom swept the pair into a group hug the moment they passed the threshold. "Look at this, my two favorite kiddos!" He cheered.

"Thomas Dupain, you put those two down right now!" Sabine chided from her spot behind the counter as she wrapped up an order for a customer. "They have plans and if you make them pass out from lack of oxygen they'll lose too much time!"

With a sheepish grin that was not at all apologetic, Tom set the pair down again before shuffling back to the kitchen. Adrien blinked with wide eyes before turning to look at Marinette. Their eyes locked... and they both burst into giggles. Somehow the tension melted right away.

They hurried up the stairs into the house and both threw off their coats and set down their bags in her room. "Okay, you two." Marinette addressed the kwamis who were floating in the air before them. "We're going to be busy for a while but the tablet is all charged and there's a bunch of movies at the ready for you. Plagg, there's Camembert on the plate up there for you. Tikki, you know where your cookies are."

"Okay, Marinette!" Tikki chirped and quickly dragged the little cat up to the loft so they could settle in.

Adrien, meanwhile, watched on in awe. He loved it when she went all Ladybug. Jeez, was it hot in there? He tugged the scarf off from around his neck and discarded it along with his coat. "So uh... cookies," he said simply.

"Right! Cookies!" She returned, turning and smiling at him. "Are you ready? I thought we could do sugar cookies. Half the fun is decorating!"

"I'll follow your lead, my lady," he practically purred out. It was automatic, but when his brain processed his words, he flushed brightly. It was a bit harder to say such things without a mask to hide behind. But she just laughed, cheeks tinged a little pink before she led him down the stairs.

The next two hours were spent baking, giggling, having fun. He was ecstatic. She taught him how to properly measure flour, how to cream the butter with the sugar, and then they made the frosting from scratch. He was already drooling when they pulled the cookies from the oven. But she quickly slapped his hand away, reminding him they had to cool and they still had to decorate them before he could eat any. He gave her a little pout but she managed to resist, instead distracting him with a round of Mecha Strike III.

He lost. But then, losing to her wasn't really losing at all.

By the time he had to return home, his heart was lighter and his bag was heavier with enough cookies to share with Nathalie and the Gorilla. The smile didn't leave his face until he fell asleep.


	14. Day 14: Santa Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Santa Claws is visiting the orphanage!

Ladybug was trying so, so hard.

All of her concentration was focused. _Stay focused. You can do this. You're a superhero for goodness sakes._

...

Yeah, she couldn't do it.

Ladybug burst out into unbridled, joyous laughed, curling in on herself and clutching her stomach as she had the equivalent of a breakdown on the roof top.

"What? Too much?" her partner asked, putting on a pout that twitched, betraying the smirk beneath. She kept laughing for another minute straight before starting to wheeze and forcing herself to catch her breath, bracing herself on her knees. She looked back up to him to reply... only to break into a whole new bout of laughter. "Aw, come on Bug, I look handsome!"

She snorted, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. 

Because there before her stood Chat Noir, in a _fat suit_ under a big red coat along with a bushy white beard and hat that were strapped onto his head. He looked ridiculous. "I-I can't," she barely managed to get out between the giggles absolutely wracking her body. He could only keep the pout up another few seconds before he burst into giggles of his own, grasping his (very fake, very fat) belly. "What on earth were you thinking, Chat?"

He straightened and plastered on his signature grin. "Well, my lady, we're going to a meet and greet with the orphanage with Santa. I thought I should dress the part."

"How hard did Plagg laugh at you before you managed to get that thing on?" She asked, wiping the tears from her eyes and forcing herself to look anywhere but him so she could try and compose herself properly. At least they had met on the roof first. If she had come undone like that in front of the kids she would have never heard the end of it.

He was silent for a moment before pouting once more and muttering under his breath. "He didn't stop. Plus he told me he wouldn't incorporate it into the transformation so I had to take it off again and do it all over again." The pout increased when she failed to contain a snort behind her hands.

"Okay. How about this? Why don't we dress you down a little bit?" Ladybug suggested, finally feeling calm enough to turn and look at her partner with an appraising stare. "You don't want to be stealing Santa's spotlight, after all."

"Aww, but the kids want to see Santa Claws!" He whined playfully. At her hard stare, he sighed heavily and made a show of rolling his eyes. " _Fiiiiiiine_." He groaned and started stripping himself of the coat and wrestled with the fat suit. Taking pity on him, Ladybug moved to his side to help him undo the straps so he could shed it. "I'll leave it up here I guess."

"Where did you even get this?" She asked, looking at the weird, flesh colored lump that was now on the rooftop beside them.

"You'd be surprised the things you can find at a photo shoot." He said mysteriously. But she just rolled her eyes.

"All right, kitty. Shall we go surprise some kids?"

"Let's!" He chirped, and the pair jumped down to the street to stand in front of the orphanage. Chat knocked a merry tune and then stood back at his lady's side with a bright grin. When the door opened, they were greeted by a happy worker who beamed at them.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir! Thank you so much again for doing this. They'll be so excited by this!" She said, opening the door to lead them inside. They followed her down a couple of halls to what seemed to be a rec room where a bunch of kids were sitting around, working on homework, art, just hanging out, and what have you. But the moment the worker cleared her throat beside them, the kids started to look over... and the whole room burst into noise.

"Wow! Is that really them?!"

"It's Ladybug and Chat Noir! Pinch me!"

"Holy shi-"

"Franc, language!" the worker quickly caught the boy before he could finish his exclamation of surprise.

The kids all pounced, jumping up from their spots to surround the pair of super heroes, all speaking at once with questions and declarations of admiration. Ladybug smiled brightly, though she was finding it hard to hear _anyone_ with everyone going at once. Chat's grin had widened so much it looked like it should be hurting. But he was too happy to care.

"Chat! Chat!" a little voice caught his attention and he glanced down to see a small girl, probably no more than five, holding a blanket close to her chest and wiggling anxiously.

"Yes?" He asked, crouching down to be on level with her as he smiled bright.

"I... I like you!" She declared and threw her arms around him. He blinked... and then chuckled and returned her hug, gently patting her back.

"Aww, princess, it makes me so happy to hear that." He said softly.

Ladybug peered at the interaction with a soft smile on her face. Ah, if only she had the courage to just come out and say it. But alas, his other princess had a bit of a problem with confessing her feelings. He released the little girl and stood up at her side again, giving her a look and nudging her gently.

"All right, kids!" The worker said quickly, holding her hands up in order to get their attention. "Calm down! Let's all go sit together and we can talk and ask questions in turn! No one is going to get answers if you all ask at once!" And then she expertly guided the group over to a large rug in the center of the room and got the kids to all sit down and relax. Ladybug and Chat stayed standing at the head of the half circle.

"Okay. Terrence, why don't you go first?" The worker called on one younger boy, about six. He glanced at her and lowered his hand before looking at the two super heroes.

"Uh-uhm..." he wiggled on his bum, shifting. "I wanted to ask Ch-chat something." Chat just nodded, waiting patiently for the boy to gather his courage. "What do cats say to each other during the holidays?"

Chat was absolutely grinning at that point. "I don't know. What?" Oh he knew. But he was absolutely delighted.

"Meowy Christmas!" Terrence finished with a gleeful smile which only grew when Chat started cracking up.

"That was a good one!" He crowed. And suddenly several more hands shot up.

"Haha, very nice, okay, Jeanne?" the worker called on another child.

"Who delivers good little kittens their presents on Christmas?" She didn't even wait for the response before she blurted out, "Santa _Claws_! Get it?!"

And so began the pun war. Ladybug was getting a headache from all the terrible jokes, but the smiles on the children and on her partner more than made up for it. And by the time they bid the class adieu, her heart was full and light, and her eyes were stuck on her partner who hadn't stopped grinning once that night. 


	15. Day 15: Caroling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien uses Kitten Eyes!
> 
> It's super effective!!

Marinette was not amused.

She was cold. She was cranky. And she was cold. Yes, cold enough to note it twice. She was huddled up in layer upon layer of clothing but it was still too cold to be doing this. _Damn those kitten eyes and their hypnotic power_ , she thought with a quick glare to her right.

Beside her stood Adrien, grinning without a care in the world as he practically skipped along the sidewalk ahead of her.

They were on their way to meet up with several friends from their class to go caroling.

Yes, the idea was cute. Yes, she could see the lovely possibilities to spend time with her complicated crush and really enjoy his presence. If only it weren't for the blistering cold. The temperature had dropped the night before to ungodly levels and she was truly feeling the bite of the cold. Even her mother had taken pity on her that morning and allowed her to sleep rather than getting her up and out of her warm cozy bed to ask for her help in the bakery. She had spent most of her day snuggled in the comforter with Tikki as they hid under the covers and watched movies on her tablet together. But then Adrien showed up. They hadn't planned on hanging out today, but she would never turn him away. Not Adrien, not her Chat. So she grumbled, got up, and met him in the living room.

His face was pure joy as he bounced on his heels. "Hello Marinette!" he chirped, restraining himself from using one of the many nicknames he had for his lady as Sabine was standing in the kitchen, fixing herself some tea.

"Hey Adrien," Marinette mumbled and rubbed at her eyes.

"Cute pjs!"

Marinette actually squealed and darted back up the steps, disappearing into her bedroom with a hurried shout of, "I'll be right back!"

Adrien waited patiently, rocking back and forth as he glanced over to Sabine. "She okay?" He asked.

"I think it's too cold for her to process things right now," Sabine informed him with a soft smile. "Don't worry, she's fine other than that. You look awfully handsome today, Adrien."

"Thank you!" He had the grace to blush. Yes. He was a model. But it was something else coming from the mother of the girl of his dreams. "I was hoping-" he was cut off with the sound of Marinette clambering back down the stairs, practically wheezing. She had dressed up in her many layers and looked worriedly between her mother and her crush, hoping to god she was fast enough to head off any embarrassing stories that could have been told. "Oh! That was quick. I was just about to tell your mom I wanted to see if you would go caroling with me. Rose and a few of the others are meeting up at the Trocadero to sing together."

Her heart screamed yes. Her skin, however, growled out a hard no. So she was uncertain when she responded. "Uh... I don't know Adrien. It's _really_ cold out today. I was just planning on hanging out here and..." Uh oh. She stared at him as his face dropped into one of pure sadness, like he was a puppy who had just been kicked. His lower lip pouted out. His eyes watered. "I... I guess we could for just a little while?" She finally said after quickly losing the battle to 'the look'. 

"Awesome!" Adrien cheered, immediately brightening up. Her own face dropped into a hard stare. That _faker_.

So that's how she found herself, walking at his side as they headed to the Trocadero to join up with their group. Her teeth were chattering, her nose was runny, and she begged for the sweet release of death. Tikki had even stayed behind to save herself, the little traitor, citing that Chat could whisk her back home to fetch her if an akuma popped up. But Adrien didn't seem to mind how frigid it was. He was _whistling_ , he was so pleased. But after several moments of her lagging behind, he took notice and slowed down, looking at her face.

He snickered. "Wow, you really hate the cold, huh?"

"It only got worse when I became Ladybug," She muttered weakly, pulling her scarf up to cover her chin. Her fingers were getting numb.

"Well. No fear bugaboo! I'll make sure to keep you warm." He grinned and reached out, taking hold of her hand and squeezing it gently.

The two blushing teens continued on their journey.

And by the end of the night, Marinette had to concede that it had been worth braving the cold. Because her kitty had kept her warm enough.


	16. Day 16: Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family can mean different things to different people.

Quiet. Cold.

_Awkward._

All words that described the dinner table at the Agreste household. Adrien pushed his food around on his plate without much care. His father had actually shown up for once to dinner. But he sat at the head of the table, completely immersed in working on his tablet with one hand while eating with the other. He hadn't even greeted his son when he had come in. Perhaps Adrien should have taken the time to be angry about it but it was just so normal at this point that it seemed silly to waste time on getting upset. Instead he felt nothing except... well, perhaps disappointment. Finally, he sighed and pushed his plate away.

"May I be excused?" He questioned, looking over to his father, who peered over his tablet at the boy, and then at his plate. Adrien hadn't eaten much of his food but his father didn't ask why, didn't care.

"Yes." Was all he said before returning his attention to the tablet once more.

"Thank you." Polite words came from him automatically as he stood up from the table.

He passed through the halls, not speaking until he entered his room and locked the door. "Ugh," he groaned out, sliding down against the closed door.

"What's up, kid?" Plagg asked, flitting over from where he had been lounging on the bed. "Dinner make you sick?"

"No. I didn't even eat much of it. I just... I'm tired of this all." Adrien's hands dropped from where they had been hiding his face. Plagg hesitated. Now, he wasn't some sappy kwami, not by any means. But his kitten was hurting. And he wasn't a monster. So there was only one thing to do.

"Why don't you go hang out with Red?"

Adrien blinked up at the kwami that hovered over him. "I shouldn't just stop by unannounced..." he said quietly, but his eyes darted to his phone that was situated on his desk to charge. With a snort and a roll of his eyes, Plagg darted off and snatched the phone off the cord to deliver it to his charge.

"So call and ask."

Adrien paused, staring at the phone now held carefully in his hands. Maybe a text would do just fine. He felt awkward just inviting himself over, and he probably would never do it... except this was his lady. His partner and best friend. 

_A: Hey! Are you busy?_

He stared the phone down until it buzzed at him.

_Mari: Only a bit. Helping mom make dinner. What's up?_

Ah. Of course. He should have known she would be busy with her parents.

_A: I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out but never mind. I'll talk to you later._

Well, there went that idea. "Thanks for the idea Plagg," he sighed out and set the phone down at his side.

He jumped when it started buzzing like crazy only a moment later.

_Mari: What? Of course you can come hang out!_

_Mari: Did you eat?_

_Mari: Come eat dinner with us!_

_Mari: Mom is making hot pot!_

_Mari: We have plenty._

_Mari: Shoot mom saw my phone. Okay, see now you have to come because she's asking about you. Don't leave me alone with these questions!_

_Mari: She insists you come over to eat with us!_

Adrien blinked wide-eyed at the phone for a moment... before his lips melted into a grin. "Huh. Looks like we're going out after all." he told Plagg before he scooped the god of misfortune unceremoniously into his hands and popped up off the floor. He hurried around the room, grabbing his scarf, mittens, and his coat and throwing them all on. Plagg settled into his scarf, huddled against his neck just out of sight. "Thanks buddy."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go. I wanna see Tikki." Plagg grumbled, acting the grump. Adrien grinned and hurried out into the hallway, practically sprinting down the stairs and to the front door. He was lucky; there was no Gorilla, no Nathalie there to catch him and question him as he bolted out the front door. The moment he passed the gates, he took a deep breath and headed to meet his lady and her family.

\--=--

Marinette, meanwhile, was staring at her phone every two seconds with absolute worry. Had she been too pushy? Oh god, was he upset with her? She was too forward wasn't she? She had gone too fast, she should have waited for an answer before sending that all off. She shouldn't have spammed his phone like a moron.

"Marinette!" Her mother called, stilling her hand. "Pay attention if you're going to be chopping the vegetables." Mari blinked and looked down at her hands. Her mom was right, she should have been more careful. It was a miracle she hadn't lost a finger. Thanking her luck, she set the knife down and moved over to the sink so she could wash her hands off. Just one more text to apologize, and then she could concentrate, she told herself.

Reaching for her phone once her hands were clean again, she started typing out a lengthy reply. "Look what I found!" Her father called and Marinette turned to look at him. She yelped and dropped her phone on the ground.

"Adrien!?"

"Hey Mari," he waved, dwarfed by her gigantic father who had a meaty arm wrapped around his shoulders. He looked nervous. Of course she didn't realize it was because he was worried that she had changed her mind (hence the strange greeting).

"H-hi! I didn't think... I mean you never said..." she blinked at him before glancing back to her phone. "Oh crap!" She stooped down and picked up the phone, sighing in relief to find it had survived the fall. "You uh... you didn't text back so I wasn't sure." At that, his face melted into a smile, one of his real, genuine, lopsided smiles.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I just was excited to get here, I didn't even think about it." He chuckled nervously and moved further into the kitchen as Tom moved to scoot around him and pull his wife in for a kiss.

"We're so glad you could make it, Adrien!" Sabine said after shooing Tom off to get cleaned up. "Marinette, be a dear and take his coat." She instructed, turning her attention back to slicing the meet into thin strips.

"Right!" With instruction, Mari jumped into action and hurried over, taking his coat once he took it off.

"Now, Adrien, I'd like you to come here and help me cut some of these vegetables. Marinette was doing it for a while but I think she got a little distracted." Sabine grinned over at her daughter knowingly, watching as the young girl blushed furiously before excusing herself to put Adrien's coat upstairs. Once his coat was set up there and she had made sure Plagg and Tikki were both comfortable and had food, she scurried back down.

She found Adrien at the counter beside her mother, wrapped up in her pink apron and listening carefully as Sabine taught him how to make his hand into a claw so that he wouldn't cut himself. He looked _adorable_. She stood back for a moment so she could survey the scene with a dopey smile on her face. But it wasn't long before her mother realized she had returned and turned to her daughter, leaving Adrien to cut the veggies up (he was doing it slowly, but he was a fast learner). "Honey, could you get the table ready for everything?"

"Yes, maman!" Marinette chirped, taking another moment to watch Adrien concentrate hard on his task. _Adorable_ , she thought to herself again. But her mother gave her _the look_ and she snapped herself out of it so that she could start setting up the table with the hotplate and all the dishes. 

Adrien was busy concentrating, wanting to make sure he did a good job. And to be honest, he was having a great time. A lot of other kids would be annoyed, being asked to do a chore at their friends house but he was so excited to be treated like a normal kid for once that everything seemed like fun. Sabine was a warm and friendly presence at his side as she dictated how to cut certain vegetables. She smiled that sweet, soft, motherly smile at him while she observed him and praised him with a grin every time he finished a new type of veggie. Marinette kept coming to get the veggies from him when he was done to set them on the table on different dishes and Tom came over twice in order to attempt to sneak a bite, only to have Sabine playfully slap his hand away.

By the time Sabine and Adrien were done preparing everything, the table had almost no free space on it and the four of them crowded around it. "This looks amazing. Great work, dear!" Tom grinned, rubbing his palms together. "Good job, son!"

Adrien stilled, eyes widening. Marinette, however, just smiled and reached over, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Thanks for helping out." She said softly. He broke out of his stupor but found, to his horror, that his eyes were watering. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry it's just..." _It's just this is what family is supposed to be. Everyone at the table, smiling. Talking. Laughing._ This is what he wanted.

"Careful now. If you keep doing so well with helping Sabine cook you're going to be recruited for every meal." Tom said simply with a knowing smile. He was gently inviting Adrien back, whenever he wanted, making sure not to draw attention to how this warm atmosphere was affecting the boy. 

"I could handle that." Adrien grinned with a little sniff to get the tears back in where they belonged.

"Good. Now, let's eat!" Sabine smiled and started dipping a piece of the meat in the pot.

_This is my family._ Adrien thought, looking around at the three of them and settling on Marinette. _This is where I belong._


	17. Day 17: Christmas Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya is so done.
> 
> In which our resident Ladyblogger is a bit of a drama queen.

Marinette was blissfully enjoying the walk to school that morning. She had managed to wake up right on time, on the _first_ alarm. She had a lovely shower. Her parents surprised her with some delicious pastries to take in for her three best friends. Tikki helped her plait her pigtails for a new look. All in all, it was a great start to her day.

So imagine her surprise that her immediate greeting from her best friend was a low growl as she sat down.

"Alya? What's wrong?" Marinette asked, plopping her head down on the desk so she could try and peer at Alya's face. Alya had her head laid down on the desk and her eyes were in a flat, vacant expression as she stared at nothing.

"I can't do it anymore." Alya grumbled out, not even moving to look at Mari. Marinette's heart constricted as her anxiety went on high alert. What could be wrong? She frowned and reached over, gently resting her hand upon Alya's back to rub it in soothing, circular motions.

"Alya, talk to me. Let me help." Marinette urged. It was rare to see Alya so defeated. She was so vibrant, full of life, almost always optimistic. It was unsettling to see her like this. Alya finally sighed and tilted her head slightly so she could properly look at Marinette.

"You can't help. No one can help." Alya said with a defeated sigh.

Oh gods. This had to be really bad. So bad. Marinette could feel the panic rising.

But before the panic could boil over, Alya heaved another sigh and continued.

"If I hear Santa Baby one more time, I'm going to lose my shit."

"Oh my god Alya." Marinette deadpanned, straightening up.

"I'm serious, Marinette!" Alya cried, straightening as well and turning to face her friend fully. "I have heard so many versions of the same stupid, insipid song that I think my brain is starting to _actually_ deteriorate. "

Marinette was about to go off on a tangent about freaking her out over essentially nothing when she was interrupted by the boys entering with big smiles and friendly greetings. "Hey dudes!" Nino waved.

"Hi Alya. Hey Marinette," Adrien smiled, setting his bag down but lingering at the side of her desk. She blinked up at him... and then, after saying a quick hi (odd for her, she knew), she turned right back to Alya.

"I cannot believe you made me so worried over that!" Marinette admonished with a little swat to the blogger's arm. "I thought your sisters were in an accident or something. I thought someone was out to kill you!"

"Woah. Mari, blowing things out of proportion." Alya said, scooting back and holding her hands up defensively. Oh that did it, Marinette was about to explode. _She_ was the one blowing things out of proportion?

"Uh, what's going on?" Adrien asked, trying to catch up with the insanity of the morning.

"Alya was acting like she was dying all because she kept hearing Santa Baby." Marinette explained without breaking her glare that was trained on her friend.

"Ugh," Nino muttered, screwing up his face in distaste. "That song blows. It's so overplayed."

"Is it?" Adrien blinked, glancing over to Nino.

"Have you ever thought about turning off the radio, Alya?" Marinette asked, still staring hard at her friend.

"Mari, you don't understand. It's like it's _following_ me. Even when I'm not listening to the radio, one of my neighbors is just loud enough for it to eat away at my brain. Every store I've been in has been playing it. I swear to god I hear it in my dreams." Alya groaned again and dropped her head into her hands. Marinette wanted to complain more, but it did sound a bit annoying. So she sighed and dropped the glare, instead watching as Nino enveloped his girlfriend in a comforting hug.

"Is it really that bad?" Adrien asked.

"Wh... what? Have you never heard Santa Baby?" Marinette asked, blinking her wide eyes.

"Not really. If we listen to anything in the house it isn't holiday music and I'm not big on going out of my way to listen to it either. Is it just a bad song?"

But before anyone could respond, an explosion sounded and the windows shook. A moment later, all the phones in the room went off with an akuma alarm.

"Let's go." Alya said, swiftly standing up to get some footage. "Maybe watching Ladybug beat the shit out of an akuma will make me feel better."

"Alya, no." Marinette said firmly. "It's dangerous."

"Alya, yes." Alya argued simply.

**_"Cower before me, citizens of Paris!"_** a loud voice boomed from outside. Apparently the akuma was quite close to their location. Adrien and Marinette exchanged worried looks as Alya started tugging on her sweatshirt. **_"I shall spread the Christmas cheer as it is meant to be! Everyone will be happy and pleasant to everyone else! I am SANTA BABY!"_**

Alya stalled, staring at her friends in absolute horror. "Okay. Maybe Alya no." She conceded and plopped right back in her seat, sweatshirt half on as she dropped her head back onto the desk again. She was none the wiser when Adrien and Marinette slipped out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of wanted to do a bit of a crack chapter. Anyone who works in retail in the US knows that Santa Baby has about eight billion versions. And if you happen to work in a tween store, you will have heard almost every single one of them. 
> 
> So yeah, I doubt it's an issue in France, but I wanted to do it anyway lol.


	18. Day 18: Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cuddling and Die Hard and Cookies, oh my.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry that I'm a day late on this. I'll try and get todays chapter up too before midnight US eastern but I have family coming in so I can't promise anything. Either way, I'll work on getting it back on track as best I can :)

There was nothing more comforting than the smell of cookies baking in the oven. Adrien and Marinette had been hanging out after school on Tuesday, mixing up and baking chocolate chip cookies with the intent on sharing them with the class the next day. While they waited, Adrien challenged her to a round of UMSIII. Of course, as the reigning champ she really couldn't refuse. And so the two of them set the timer and plopped onto the couch to engage in friendly trash talk and fun.

"You're so going down Agreste." she smirked, gripping the controller as she squared off to the screen.

"I dunno, Mari, I've been practicing," He grinned over at her as their first match booted up on screen. He tore his eyes away in order to focus on the game.

It was no surprise that she kicked his ass. Every time. Still, he pouted. He thought that he had gotten better. But the timer for their cookies went off and his pout disintegrated, quickly replaced with a look of pure joy as he hopped off of the couch and hurried into the kitchen. He hovered by the oven anxiously whilst Marinette slipped on oven gloves and removed the three trays of cookies. "First batch done!" She said brightly. "Grab a couple of spatulas, we need to set them to the side to cool." She gestured a little with her shoulder before turning to put the last tray on the counter. He quickly retrieved the tools and they set to putting all of their cookies onto the cooling racks. Once done, they got the trays ready all over again with the remaining dough and set the timer once more.

"Maybe we should watch something?" Adrien offered, deciding he had quite enough of taking a beating at their favorite game.

She gave him a knowing smile but nodded. "Sure. Why not. Want to watch another Christmas movie?" She asked, heading over to the couch with him on her heels.

"Hmm... sure." He nodded and plopped back down on the couch. Unfortunately, they were unable to decide on one before the timer had rung out again. Adrien kept pushing for that one movie called _Bad Santa_ that Marinette refused over and over again. Honestly, he only kept pushing because she was reacting in such an amusing way. Every time he tried, she flushed bright red and stumbled over her words just like she used to when they had started their friendship. She kept pushing for old classics but he was never really into that kind of movie.

So they attended their cookies again, both still arguing for their movie choices in an easy banter. Finally, all the cookies were set out to cool and they returned to the couch with a plate for themselves. "Okay, okay." Marinette finally said, holding up her hands. "Obviously actual Christmas movies aren't going to cut it tonight. How about we have a truce and watch Die Hard instead."

"Die Hard?" Adrien quirked a brow.

"Some people call it the greatest Christmas movie ever." Marinette shrugged.

"But it's not about Christmas." Adrien laughed aloud, snorting as he fell back against the cushions. Still. It was a fun movie to watch. He had enjoyed it a lot when he first saw it. "Well, why not?" Action was a fun genre to enjoy at least. So Marinette navigated to Die Hard and started it up.

She leaned back against the cushions at his side, so close he could feel her shoulders moved with every breath she drew. He tried to stop being so conscious of it but it wasn't working too well for him. He stalled when she shivered a bit and glanced over to her. Well... he couldn't let his lady be could (never mind the fact that wasn't at all why she had shivered, but he didn't know that). Without another thought, he pulled the blanket that lay on the back of the couch and spread it out over their legs, reaching over to tuck it around her. "Th-thanks," She muttered softly, and he smiled.

"Better?" He questioned, leaning back a bit to make sure she was comfortable. But at her quick nod, he settled again, leaning in against her. They watched for a good half hour before Adrien couldn't take it anymore. It was so warm. Too warm. His face was red. He could barely concentrate on the movie. His whole brain was slowly melting away, he was sure of it. And the problem wasn't with the blanket. Nope, no way. It was the fact that he and Marinette were undoubtedly _cuddling_ at this point. Somehow his arm had made its way around her shoulders, settling down so that her hand gently splayed upon her arm. Her head was against his shoulder, one hand bracing itself against his chest. He wondered if she could feel the heart attack building beneath his rib cage. He glanced down at the top of her head, but she didn't seem to be paying him much mind. Thank god.

"Adrien?" He mentally shrieked but managed to at least keep it from spilling out of his lips.

"Y-yeah?" he uttered after forcing himself to get it under control.

"Would you uh... would you want to come to my family's Christmas shindig tomorrow night? I know it's kind of late notice but I wasn't sure how to ask you and..."

He stalled. Was she asking him out? _Holy shit._ Was Marinette Dupain-Cheng asking him out on a date? He blinked stupidly, trying to form a sentence. Okay. Be cool. Be cool. Don't throw up on her head or she will never speak to you again. That's going to make akuma fights really, really awkward.

But poor Marinette took his silence as her worst fear, so she quickly continued on. "Uh, I mean. Just as a friend. You know. We could just... I mean, hang out. Like usual. And I know you don't do a lot around the holidays. Although you may have a shoot or something. But I just thought it could be fun, you know, hanging out, being pals... that kind of thing." She coughed awkwardly and hoped to god that she had saved the situation.

_Oh_. Adrien's heart dropped into his stomach. But then... "Of course I'd like to. I'm actually pretty free through Christmas because father is busy working on his spring line." So it wasn't a date. It was still time he could spend with his lady. Why would he ever turn down a chance to hang out with her?

Her worried frown finally melted into a smile and she licked her lips, settling against him again and returning her attention to the movie. "Awesome." She said softly.

"Yeah, awesome." he echoed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, family shenanigans!


	19. Day 19: Pretend Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To get her aunties off her back, Marinette asks Adrien a favor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little longer because I feel bad being behind schedule. I'll try and get today's up as well but my family is still in town so I can't promise anything.

"Marinette! Adrien is here!" Sabine called up from the kitchen, smiling warmly at the young man before her. "And he looks very handsome!" Oh, and then he was blushing. So cute! Sabine forced herself to not giggle and embarrass the poor thing further.

" _Ohmygod MOM!_ " Marinette's voice sounded from upstairs, absolutely mortified by the sound of it. Adrien wasn't doing much better. He was pretty sure he looked as red as a ladybug right about then, funnily enough. 

"Why don't you have a seat on the couch dear? I have to go make sure Tom didn't fall asleep while he was getting ready." She smiled and patted Adrien on the shoulder before leaving him to his own devices.

And without much else left to do, Adrien simply followed her instructions and took a seat, trying to cool his face down before his lady appeared. It wasn't two minutes before she did so, and he doubted he had been successful. Not in the least because seeing her descend the stairs from her room took the breath right out of him.

Marinette looked... "Wow..." he muttered under his breath, eyes wide. She was dressed in a wine red cocktail dress that was all intricate lace, with slip of the same color underneath. It ended just above her knees and bared her lovely, muscular arms. Her legs were covered in black stockings and she was wearing matching pumps. His eyes stayed on her feet for a moment. Now, he knew his lady was very graceful on the battlefield but he couldn't help but worry about her walking around in those in her civilian form. Even _if_ they made her legs look even more amazing than normal.

"What did you say?" Marinette asked, and he blinked several times in attempts to bring his brain back around to the present.

"Uh, just that you... you look... wow." he said. So smart. Much intelligence. Good job Agreste. But he was lucky because she blushed at that and he got to see her light up as she giggled. He, himself was just in slacks and a button down under his big winter coat. She had said it wasn't necessarily a formal event but he was glad he had dressed up somewhat. If he was going to have his lady on his arm, he wanted to look worthy of her. Even if they were just friends. 

"Thanks. You, uh, you look 'wow' too." She said, pushing an errant strand of hair behind her ear as she looked shyly down at her feet. Her hair was down for once. His fingers itched to run through it. But that would probably be weird so he held back. "Thanks again for coming. I uh... well, I actually wanted to talk to you before we go. Before mom and dad come to... well, yeah." She shuffled her feet. Sensing her sudden insecurity, Adrien finally popped off of the couch and approached her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

"What do you need, my lady?" he whispered softly, making her look up at him with wide eyes.

"So I know I _said_ that we... that we were going as just friends. I mean, of course we are but... I was hoping you could do me a favor." She said softly, biting her lower lip. "And you can say no. Of course. This is last minute and I know it's a lot to ask but I just had to ask because I really can't take the meddling anymore even though I know they mean well, it just drives me crazy every single time and-"

"Marinette." Adrien cut her off. "What do you need?"

"Would you... would you mind pretending to be my boyfriend for the night?" she blinked those big baby blues up at him. He sucked in a breath. "It's just that every time I go to one of these big family events my aunties always try and set me up with someone. Hell, last Christmas three of them brought boys for me to meet. Random boys."

"I'll do it!" He said quickly. Random boys could kiss his ass. No way he was going to leave his lady fending for herself against strange boys sniffing around her. And if he got to enjoy a night of being her (pretend) boyfriend, then so be it.

"Really?" she asked weakly, disbelieving his easy acceptance. She knew her kitty would take a hit for her but she didn't want to push it. She had hoped. Being his (pretend) girlfriend for a night sounded wonderful, even if it really was for self-preservation.

"Yes, of course. I'll always help you, princess." he smiled that soft smile of his at her and gently rubbed her shoulders.

"You kids ready to party?!" Tom bellowed as he and Sabine appeared, making the pair of teens jump apart quickly.

"Y-yes." the two of them chorused, both a bright red all over again. This time Sabine couldn't hold back her giggles.

~=~

They arrived at the Grand Paris a half hour later and shed their coats at the coat check before hurrying off to a large room that had been reserved for the family's event. And _wow_ , Marinette had not been kidding. She had a lot of family members. The place was packed.

Practically everyone turned their heads when the door opened and the four of them entered the ballroom, and everyone was grinning all at once. "Tom! Sabine!" Several of them called out and suddenly they were being greeted by _everyone_. Adrien felt faint. Wow. So much family.

Marinette must have sensed his plight because she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the mob of family members so they could hover off to the side. "You all right?" She questioned, carefully studying his face.

"Yeah." he nodded, catching his breath. "You have a lot of family."

"Yeah... sorry about that," She smiled sheepishly.

"No! Don't be sorry. It's great." He quickly amended. "I would love to have a giant family like this."

Adrien took it all in from their spot against the wall. It was true, he would adore having a larger family. It was, however, admittedly easier to take it all in from the sidelines first. "Well. It's a good thing we're family." Marinette said softly, reaching down and lacing her fingers with his. His breath caught in his throat and he quickly looked down to their entwined hands. "Is this okay?" she checked, searching his eyes. A faint blush had crawled across her cheeks but she was holding firm.

"Yeah." _More than okay._

"Good." She smiled and squeezed his hand gently. "Let me know when you're ready to make the rounds. Though we may not be left alone very long." He nodded and forced himself to turn his attention back to the crowd of family members, carefully watching their interactions as they greeted Tom and Sabine, all hugs and smiles and laughs. His heart felt so warm, so full, even just watching it. This was what family was supposed to be like, he reminded himself. A little part of him clung on to what Marinette had just said, _we're family_ , because while he knew what she meant, he hoped that he could make it official one day. His luck was against him but he could still hope.

He was just about to say he was ready when some of the family members seemed to notice them hovering by the wall and approached all as a group, cooing and grinning as they spoke over each other.

"Oh Marinette, look at you all grown up! So pretty!"

"Marinette, my darling, did you make that dress yourself?"

"Marinette, who is your handsome friend?"

Marinette patiently waited for a lull in the questions, squeezing his hand in an effort to keep him grounded through the dizzying whirlwind. When she was certain she would be heard, she set out on answering. _Thank you. Yes, I did make this dress, it was a fun new pattern to try out. This is Adrien._

After that group had moved on, another group of family members came, and then another. After that one, they finally headed over to the table where there was food set out and helped themselves. There was no seating so they stood around, taking a break and nibbling on the yummy snacks.

And that's when it happened.

Four women approached as a unit and he heard Marinette groan at his side. He straightened up, squaring his shoulders.

"Marinette!" The closest one called, all smiles and confidence. "Hello, darling! How are you?"

"I'm fine, Auntie Charlotte." Marinette said, stiff as a board. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, just wonderful!" The other three joined them and each exchange went quite the same. "Marinette, I wanted to introduce you to-" her eyes darted around, trying to find someone in the crowd. But the other three were quick to start looking around too. "Oh, there he is. Ricardo!" she called, waving her hand frantically and beckoning someone over. The other three were doing quite the same. Marinette groaned again and her head drooped. Four separate boys joined them, all smiling winning smiles. And Adrien couldn't help what happened next.

He _growled_. Marinette's eyes widened and she looked absolutely taken aback. But she quickly covered her shock and grabbed his hand up, making a show of holding it. "Aunties, this is my _boyfriend_ , Adrien." She introduced quickly before they could start trying to upsell the poor boys they had dragged to this family event. Honestly, had they no shame?

Their faces fell all at once, but they were quick to cover up, all smiling again (albeit a bit forced) and greeting him.

"So how did you two meet?" another one, Auntie Ella, questioned, looking between the two. The four boys had disappeared back into the crowd at this point and the six of them had squared off.

"We go to school together." Adrien said easily.

"Really? That's lovely. How did you start dating?" Auntie Charlotte asked, taking a sip of the wine she held.

Adrien glanced over to Marinette who seemed to pale. She apparently hadn't thought that far ahead. "It's uh... recent," she said weakly.

"When did you realize you liked each other?" the short, plump aunt asked, clasping her hands together. Auntie Bella, he thought.

"Oh. That's easy." Marinette said, blinking. "It's uh... actually kind of a funny story."

Her aunties all looked on expectantly and Adrien found himself joining them. Marinette was blushing as she fiddled with the ends of her hair, seemingly lost in her thoughts for a moment.

"The first day we met, I thought he was pulling a prank on me. But he was actually trying to pull the gum off my seat. It was a big misunderstanding. And I didn't really believe him at first. But then... then when it was raining and I was standing outside the school, waiting for it to stop he gave me his umbrella. And he had this smile..." she trailed off, staring off into the distance. Adrien was pretty sure his heart was going to explode out of his chest. This _sounded real_. He remembered that day. "And I was just a goner." Her eyes refocused... and then she blushed wildly, turning a bright red and looking over to him for a split second before hurriedly looking away again.

He was a goner.


	20. Day 20: Xmas Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir finds Ladybug bathed in the lights of Christmas decorations during patrol. 
> 
> Self doubts suck.

Chat was nearing the end of his route for the evening. It was a solo night, so when he saw a familiar silhouette he almost tripped over himself trying to reroute. "My lady?" He questioned, coming up upon her from behind. 

"Hi Chat," Ladybug said softly, not looking back at him but rather keeping her eyes on the streets below. She had perched on top of one of the shopping buildings that lined boulevard Haussmann. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Chat blinked... and then joined her, sitting down at her side and looking down. The whole street was bathed in multicolored lights, completely decked out for the holidays. They were bathed in pink and blue glow from below. "Yeah. It's really pretty," he agreed. At her noise of agreement, he moved his stare to settle on her. She looked more stunning than usual, bathed in the Christmas lights. Ethereal, really. His heart thudded loud in his chest. "What are you doing out, my lady?"

  
"I just wanted to think. I couldn't do it in my room." She said softly, finally turning to look at him. She had been desperately trying to figure out how to deal with her feelings. How to decide what to do with them, and how, and what was best for him, what was best for Paris. Eventually she just had to get out of her room. It was too stifling, too small for all of the big thoughts she had to process. Of course, now that he was _here_ , she probably wouldn't get much more thinking done on the subject. Adrien had that kind of effect on her.

"Ah. Needed some fresh air?" He started kicking his feet lazily over the edge. She nodded and turned her attention back to the streets below, allowing him to survey her profile. She was stunning. And so quiet. He hoped that she was all right. Forcing himself to look away, focusing once more on the displays below, he sunk into his own thoughts and they sat side by side in silence.

Yesterday had been... amazing. He had gotten to feel like he was worthy of her. Even if it was just for that day. But the taste had been addicting. It had been too much. Was it selfish that he wanted more than just that one day? That he wanted _all_ of the days? His chest felt tight. Perhaps. Besides, it wasn't really up to him. He glanced quickly to his partner before looking away again before she could catch him.

Marinette was on a completely different level than him. She was strong-willed, had so much drive and ambition. He was a model, sure, but he had no idea what he wanted to do in life that had nothing to do with bouncing around the city in leather. What could he offer someone like her? She was going places. She deserved the world. No, the entire universe. Everything. He clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, sighing out heavily under his breath as he tried to reign in the depressing thoughts. He just wanted to be enough for her. And he knew, he _knew_ that she would immediately tell him that he was being silly. They were partners, equals! And yes, Chat Noir and Ladybug were partners. But Adrien and Marinette? There was no contest there.

"Chaton?" Her hesitant voice broke him out from the tangle of worries.

"Hm?" he questioned, looking over to see concern in her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Her hand gently settled on his shoulder as she searched his eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Well, that was evasive.

She chewed on her lower lip, completely unconvinced. But he could tell she wasn't comfortable in pressing. She was too considerate, too kind, too sweet, too good for that. Too good for him.

"I need to finish my route," he said, deciding a hasty exit would be the best bet. And so he stood up from his perch and brushed himself off before turning toward her. "You should go home, my lady. Get some rest. Maybe the answer will come to you in the morning." He hoped his generic advice could at least help her a little. He didn't have much else for her right now.

"I... guess I should," she conceded, and stood up as well. "Be careful, Chat. Good night." And with that, she was off, heading back toward the bakery. He watched her go before heaving another heavy sigh and continuing on his way, the beautiful lights dancing below him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien you are a beautiful cinnamon roll! You two belong together >n<


	21. Day 21: Freezing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat has had enough. He has to tell his lady how he feels. Now if only he could get his brain and his tongue to work together.

Adrien- no, Chat Noir- had enough. He didn't think he could take anymore of this pussyfooting around (hah, pussyfooting).

So that's why he found himself, donned in his superhero attire, pacing about on a certain balcony at nearly midnight, attempting to psych himself up.

And he had been... for nearly two hours. He was freezing, but his brain was still at war so despite slowly losing the feeling in his fingers, in his toes, in his nose, he continued to pace. He couldn't take it, he couldn't keep going on like this. He could absolutely _not_ keep pretending that he wasn't absolutely, completely, one-hundred percent in love with the amazing woman that was his partner, his Marinette. And his heart knew that, and his brain knew that. But his tongue was not exactly cooperating. He had practiced close to ten times in the mirror at home. But it all flew out the window the moment he landed on her balcony.

And so there he had paced, two hours of freezing his Christmas balls off, trying to figure out what to say, trying to remember the perfect speech he had come up with before.

His eyes darted to the hatch every once in a while. The lights were mostly out but there was still a dim glow. He still had time. Marinette was probably watching something on her tablet, all cuddled up and adorable with her hair down and her beautiful blue eyes struggling to stay open. He paused long enough to let a lovelorn sigh tumble from his lips as he pictured his lady in her sleepy glory.

But he didn't allow himself to wallow in the fantasy too long. He just had to get his courage up, find the words, and he could enjoy that whenever he wanted. Her company, her cuteness, her perfect-

"Chaton?"

He wanted to say that he did not squeal like a six year old girl when he jumped ten feet in the air, but that would be a boldfaced lie.

When he turned back to the hatch, it was to find Marinette peeking out of the hatch with concern etched across her features. "What are you doing up here? It's freezing tonight!" She studied his face carefully. "How long have you been out here?"

"Not long," he lied quickly. Oh god, he wasn't ready. His heart was threatening to escape his rib cage with all the pounding it was doing and he felt his mouth dry out. Words. He knew words. Right? Right. He'd spoken them most of his life. He just needed to find the right order. "Uh you good?"

No. Bad Adrien. Very bad.

"Uh... yeah I was just watching something... you good?" she quirked an eyebrow at him, drumming her fingers on the hatch ledge as she looked him up and down. His face was bright red and she was starting to get worried that he was seriously freezing to death.

"Yup. Good here. I'm good. That's me. Good is me." Dear gods, strike him down now. He gripped his belt tail in his hands, fiddling with it and wringing it absentmindedly as his brain and tongue battled to come up with what he needed to say.

"Chat...?"

He huffed out quickly and mentally slapped himself. _Come on, Agreste. You love this girl. You can't take it anymore. You know this. Just tell her how you feel, how hard is that?_ he berated himself internally. Fine. He could do this. He opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything that had been building up, ever since they found out each other's identities. No, wait, ever since they met. "...." But though his mouth moved, no sounds came out. He probably looked like a fish, mouth gaping wide as his eyes widened when he realized he couldn't say anything.

She mouthed at him too, then blinked her wide eyes.

Well, shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a bit shorter. But that's because I wanted it to lead into an akuma battle for the next one.


	22. Day 22: Silent Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when you think he's gonna do the thing, an akuma has to ruin it for all of us.

Marinette and Chat's eyes locked as they both shut their mouths in sync. Something was wrong. Very wrong. This _screamed_ akuma. Well, perhaps screamed wasn't the right word, considering they were both rendered mute. With a resolute nod, Marinette made her way over to his side and they both peered over the banister of her balcony, trying to spot something off. 

It didn't take long for them to see a ghostly vision of a woman floating along down the street just below them. The entity glowed white, her hair floating around her body as though she were underwater instead of moving around the city streets. Her eyes glowed electric blue and tendrils of fine chains wrapped around her form. She seemed awfully calm for an akuma, but unless the ghost of Christmas Past had come along out of a storybook, there was no mistaking it. Chat and Marinette exchanged a meaningful glance, before Marinette hurried down through the hatch to fetch Tikki.

She found the little kwami curled up upon her big cat pillow, nestled against one of the ears and looking oh-so-adorable. It was too bad she had to wake her. And wake her she did. Since she couldn't speak, Marinette carefully prodded the little red ball of fuzz until the kwami finally blinked open her big blue eyes. She moved to say something and then blinked them again, obviously catching on that something was wrong. And so Marinette scooped Tikki up in her hands and carried her up onto the balcony so they could stand with Chat.

He had stayed put, keeping an eye on the akuma. It didn't seem to be doing much harm at the moment, aside from sucking all the sound out of its general vicinity. But then, it was an akuma, it probably wouldn't be long until something went terribly, horribly awry. Tikki looked up to Marinette and gave a resolute nod, and Marinette opened her mouth to call on her transformation.

It was too bad that she couldn't speak. She blinked once. Twice. Three times. And then her jaw dropped and she silently screamed. She couldn't transform!

Tikki looked just as panicked for once and started to flit about the pair of holders, talking a mile a minute with her mouth flapping about as though they could read lips. Marinette quickly grew tired of trying to follow the kwami's movements and scooped her up out of the air, holding her to her chest with a grimace. She pet Tikki's head gently and sighed out. Again, she disappeared into the room below and returned with a notepad and a pen. 'Can you purify the akuma without me transforming?' she wrote down and tapped the page, holding Tikki out over it. The kwami blinked, and then nodded, though she was grimacing. She could do it, but it would take a lot out of her. And she couldn't allow herself to be seen by anyone else. This was going to be tricky. 

Chat grimaced and made a little gesture and Marinette passed the pad of paper over. 'You stay here.' he wrote.

Marinette abruptly stomped her foot. 'like hell!' she wrote after swiping the pen back from him.

'You have no powers'

'I am your partner'

'Yes and as your partner i need to make sure you're safe'

'I can take care of myself'

'You are staying and that's final!'

The war of swiping the pen ended as Chat swiped both the pen and the notebook and tossed it over the side of the balcony.

Marinette stared at him with a deep frown and crossed her arms. Tikki rolled her eyes and flitted up, nestling in Chat's hair. She gave a pointed stare at her chosen who held steady for a minute before heaving out a sigh. She finally relinquished with a nod and Chat let out a heavy sigh of relief. With the knowledge his princess would be safe in her tower, he swiped up her hand and planted a kiss on it before he vaulted off to follow the akuma down the street. 

Marinette was proud of herself. She waited a _whole_ minute before she hurried down off the balcony to rush after him. 

When Chat found the akuma she had only made it two streets away. This one was taking her time, carefully spreading the quiet throughout the city. It was so late that he was sure many citizens didn't even notice it, but there were groups of people who suddenly went silent in the midst of conversation as they gathered on the streets beneath the Christmas lights. They looked alarmed and immediately cleared out upon seeing the ghostly figure and the superhero.

Having had enough of simply tailing her (hah, tailing), Chat vaulted up and over her so he could cut her off on the street. She stopped in place, hovering in the middle of the street and looking him over. _'You are Chat Noir'_ an eerie voice rang through his mind and he winced. It was not a good feeling having an unfamiliar voice in his head. _'My name is Silent Night, and Hawkmoth demands I retrieve your miraculous.'_

Well, that was the standard fare. He hoped that her speaking in his mind didn't bode that she could also read his thoughts. The last thing he needed was for her to learn his identity and have it get back to Hawkmoth. He glared and readied his baton, sliding into a fighting stance.

_'You wish to fight me? So be it.'_ The being was calm, and approached slowly. But when he swung, she was quick to move out of the way. And he swung again and she caught his baton without even flinching. She was _strong_. He cursed mentally and hopped back, reassessing the situation and trying to take a moment to find the possessed item on her. But she continued toward him at that sedate pace. It was disconcerting. Like a horror movie. He shuddered and backed up some, eyes scanning her carefully. The chains stood out somewhat, but they were all over the place. It made no sense for that to be where the akuma was hiding. His eyes followed them, nonetheless, and finally settled on a necklace settled around her collar. Bingo. It was a little heart locket, silver but it glinted almost purple under the street lamps.

Finding his target, he attacked again, carefully maneuvering around her grabbing hands and smacking against her back with his baton before dashing away again to study her movements.

Before he could jump to attack again, a loud clattering sounded. The broken quiet made him wince, and Silent Night straight out screeched like a banshee. He had to cover his ears and squint his eyes shut to try and keep the blood from boiling right out of his ears. The sound made him sick to his stomach.

When the screech died and he looked up, he immediately paled. Silent Night had foregone her slow movements and was now flying straight at Marinette who was hovering by a tipped trash can with a grimace. 

_Damn it, Mari, I ask you to do just one thing. One thing!_ He hissed internally and bounded after the akuma, praying he would make it in time to intercept before his lady could suffer the consequences.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the street, Marinette was cursing her civilian side's clumsiness, glancing up just in time to see the akuma swinging at her with her claws. Mari stumbled back and landed on her butt, quickly scrambling back as best she could. But before the akuma could move to attack again, a black blur slammed into her and the pair tumbled along the sidewalk landing in a heap.

Marinette quickly stood, hurrying towards the lump of tangled limbs on the ground. They were wrestling there, trying to get the upperhand. Marinette watched for only a moment before she swooped in and ripped the necklace from the akuma, forcing the butterfly out into the open. And before the poor possessed woman could screech again, Tikki made her appearance and swallowed the butterfly whole. She burped it out, nice and white and lovely, and waved goodbye to it before cooing "bye-bye little butterfly. Miraculous ladybug!" The familiar glow of red bathed the street and swiped throughout Paris, righting everything, and Tikki quickly dove back into Chat's locks as the akuma's form melted away to reveal a young woman kneeling on the ground and looking lost.

As the silence was lifted, her soft sobs were made evident and Chat knelt beside her. "What happened?" he questioned softly as Marinette backed away into the shadows against the nearest building.

"She just wouldn't stop crying. I can't get my baby to stop crying," she sobbed out.

Chat took several moments to calm her down before making sure she was able to get home (it wasn't far, she assured, and said that her husband would be worried sick by this point). And then he whirled on Marinette. She smiled sheepishly from her hiding spot and waved.

He stomped over to her and she winced, expecting him to lecture her. Yes. It had been stupid. She knew that, of course. But she couldn't just let him go in- She blinked as he tugged her roughly against him and held her close, resting his cheek on the top of her head. "You scared me," he whispered. She felt her face heat up as she listened to her heart beating wildly. Or was that his? She closed her eyes and leaned against him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"I thought I was going to lose you." He muttered again. And she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tight.

"You will never lose me." She promised.

The walk back to the bakery was silent. They were quiet all the way up until he deposited her back onto her balcony and gave her a thorough once over to assure himself that she was truly all right. He seemed hesitant to leave. It was nearing two AM at that point. He didn't want to go. He had come for a reason, after all. And though he had been _rudely_ interrupted by that akuma, he wanted to finish his quest.

"Princess. Marinette." He said, as steady as his heart would allow.

"Yes, Chat?" she asked, hovering by the trap door uncertainly. He frowned. They were both exhausted. 

"May... May I come over tomorrow? There's something I need to talk to you about?"

She blinked... and then slowly nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

"I'll be here in the morning," he promised. And then he approached her and picked up her hand, gently kissing her knuckles. A promise to her, and to himself. "Good night, princess." he bid. And then he was off into the night once more, leaving his princess and her kwami staring after him.


	23. 23: Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the chapter we've all been waiting for! :D :D :D :D :D :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How much have you been hating me? :D

Adrien arrived early. Too early. When he waltzed into the bakery, he was greeted by an amused Tom and Sabine who cheerfully told him Marinette was still passed out, dead to the world. It was already nine, which he considered late. But then again, Marinette had never been a morning person. "If you'd like you could have a bite to eat, dear." Sabine offered whilst boxing up an order for a customer who was waiting off to the side.

"Or you could help out in the kitchens!" Tom joked from the back. Adrien weight his options. It was hard to turn down anything from the best bakery in Paris. But he _had_ already eaten. Perhaps later, he would take them up on it and indulge in a chocolate croissant.

"What do you need help with?" he asked, making his decision.

"Come on back!" Tom called. He was greeted with a big smile and an even bigger hug, and he retreated from the hug covered in flour. Tom didn't hold back the guffaw at Adrien's new look and continued to snicker while instructing Adrien on what he needed help with. 

When Marinette finally woke up, she wandered down to find both her father and Adrien completely covered in flour and making terrible puns back and forth while they decorated sugar cookies. It took her a full minute of staring open mouthed before she managed to squeak out a greeting.

"Good morning, Mari!" Adrien chirped back, blushing brightly under the veil of flour that hung on his cheeks.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" her father chimed in with a wide grin as he clapped Adrien on the shoulder with one of his giant, meaty hands. "Good of you to finally join the living!"

Her lips formed a pout and Adrien couldn't help but chuckle alongside her dad. She was cute when she was pouting. 

Hell, she was cute all the time.

Tom glanced between the two kids and grinned all over again. "You know, it's about lunch time. Adrien why don't you and Marinette head on up? You get cleaned up and Sabine will get you two some lunch." He said steadily, reaching over to carefully ruffle some of the flour out of Adrien's hair.

Adrien glanced at his phone to see that it was indeed lunch time. Somehow the time had gotten away from him. What could he say, baking with Tom was fun! He'd take this over modeling any day of the week. "Yes, sir!" Adrien chirped and smiled brightly before he grasped Marinette's hand in his and tugged her upstairs.

Okay, so sue him, he was a little over excited. Today was _the day_ , after all. There was nothing that was going to get in his way. He was determined. Although he definitely wanted to get cleaned up before making any declarations of love. Out of the many scenarios his brain had crafted for his fantasies, none of them involved him looking like he lost a fight with a stand mixer.

"Do you mind if I shower?" he asked, finally relinquishing her hand once they entered the apartment above the bakery.

"N-no! Of course not!" Marinette shook her head quickly. "Uh. Let me get you some towels." And with that, she hurried off to the linen closet. When she returned it was with two big fluffy towels, green and pink, and lead him to the bathroom. "Do you need me to wash your clothes?" She asked, eyeing him carefully. He really was a bit of a mess.

"Nah, I think I can shake most of it off. Besides I have nothing to wear otherwise. Not sure how your family would feel about me lounging around naked in the..." he trailed off and abruptly went red at the exact same time she did. Perhaps talking about hanging out naked was not the best thing to say. "Uh. I'm going to shower now."

"Okay."

Yup. That was a conversation killer. He quickly shut himself into the bathroom and locked the door, forcing back a groan that threatened to work its way out of him. _Good job, Agreste._

Marinette, meanwhile, stumbled over to the couch and practically fell down on it. Adrien. _Naked_ Adrien. In her house. Was it weird that she was salivating a little? Oh god, she was a pervert. She flopped over onto her side and buried her face into a pillow and let out a long, low groan. How embarrassing.

Adrien wasn't faring much better, gently banging his head against the tile of the shower stall whilst Plagg cackled at him without restraint. "Shut up, Plagg." Adrien uttered, banging against it once more. Finally, he forced himself to breathe and get over it. He needed to shower. And so he set about washing his hair, scrubbing off the goop from the flour, cleaning up. He forced himself to focus. Because today was the day. He wouldn't wait longer. He couldn't. And though it felt like his chest was slowly constricting, a little bit every minute more he waited, he was excited. He was hopeful. And that wasn't exactly the norm for him. But that hug last night, that felt like it meant something.

Like it was worth it to hope.

Just this once.

When he emerged from the bathroom, all fresh an clean aside from a couple of patches of flour that still marred his clothes, he felt like a new man. He was ready, he was excited, he was... staring at the log on the couch that was Marinette's prone form. Concern shot through him. Was she okay? Did she fall asleep again?

"Marinette?" he asked cautiously, stepping closer.

"Mmph?" The lump responded. Well, at least she was conscious.

"Are you all right?"

With that question, she shot up. "Me? Oh. Yeah, me, I'm great. Super great! Everything is great!" She chattered away. Well that was certainly Marinette's freak out speech patterns if he ever heard them. And he had. A lot. It was kind of their thing. At least in the past it certainly had been.

"Okay..." he drawled, before he plopped down next to her. "Listen, Mari..."

Unfortunately, her mother had terrible timing. She swooped in from the front door and was all smiles. "Lunch is coming right up!" She announced before hurrying into the kitchen. Adrien glanced to Marinette to find she was studiously avoiding his gaze, a blush seemingly permanent on her cheeks. "How was baking this morning, Adrien dear?" Sabine made conversation as she put together some delicious looking sandwiches. "I do hope Tom didn't tease you too much?"

"Oh, no, not at all! I actually learned some great puns from him!"

That seemed to snap Marinette out of it, at least a little. She let forth a long groan and rolled her eyes, looking at her mother as though she could hardly believe this was her life. Sabine chuckled at her daughter's exasperation. "Well, I'm so glad you two get along." Sabine said, diplomatic as ever. "Tom really enjoyed your company. And your help. You're getting quite good at decorating, he told me." Adrien full on glowed in pride at that. It was true, he had no real skill before so there was nowhere to go but up. But still, it was nice to hear that he had improved after all. Even more so that Marinette's father liked him.

Of course, he knew before that he liked him, but they hadn't yet spent any one-on-one time together. And considering his intent for the day, his approval meant everything. He beamed, looking over at Marinette to find her smiling softly at him. "I was happy to help." he uttered. Her mother hummed in response before setting two plates down on the table for them. "Dig in, my loves!" She called as she picked up another plate to take down to Tom. "I'll be right back, kids!"

And then they were alone again.

Silence ensued a moment before Adrien finally cleared his throat and the pair of them popped off the couch and hurried to the table. They ate in slightly awkward silence, looking at each other when they thought the other wouldn't notice.

Her mother returned during their meal, though only briefly and retrieved her own meal before scurrying away again, looking awfully pleased with something or other. Perhaps they had just made a big sale, Marinette thought.

Adrien however was busy psyching himself up again, a repeat of what he was doing on her balcony the night before. _Okay, you got this Agreste. It's just the love of your life. What could go wrong?_ He paled. _Okay, stuff could go wrong but I mean... all the signs! This is a good thing, it will go well. Hurry up and just do it already!_ He opened his mouth to speak, and then frowned as his phone buzzed insistently at him. Marinette was just finishing up her sandwich as he retrieved it from his pocket... and scowled. Nathalie. "Sorry." he said softly, but she shrugged. Nothing he could do about it after all.

"Hello?" he asked, picking it up. Marinette busied herself with clearing their plates from the table and bringing them into the kitchen.

"Adrien." Nathalie's greeting was as warm as ever. He rolled his eyes. "Your father requires your presence at a photoshoot in the studio. Now."

"What? But I had the day off." Adrien uttered, absolutely flabbergasted. What the hell? Why was it that every time he was about to tell her something had to come and ruin it?

"I know but one of the models fell ill. Adrien, we need you here."

He wanted to stomp his feet, whine, refuse. But the boy who desperately wanted nothing more than to please his father caved easily. "Fine." he muttered, shoulders slumping as he let out a dejected sigh. "I'll be there. Can I get a pick up?"

"Certainly. Where are you?" He explained he was at the bakery and hung up with a sigh after she confirmed that the Gorilla was on his way. He turned and looked at Marinette who was standing awkwardly by the table, unsure of what to say.

"I have to go. There's a shoot and... well, they need me." He sighed.

"I'm sorry." Marinette said softly, stepping toward him. She halted though.

"The Gorilla is already nearby. He'll be here in a few minutes. I'm really sorry about this."

"No. Don't apologize. It's not your fault." Marinette was quick to reassure him. "Let me... uhm, let me walk you out." She said softly.

They walked together to the door of the apartment and Adrien suddenly stopped. The Gorilla was still a few minutes out. And he truly couldn't take anymore. So he stood his ground and turned to fully face her when she stopped at his side in the door frame. "Marinette, I told you I had something I wanted to talk to you about." It was a miracle that his voice was so steady because his insides were quivering.

"Oh, right. Is everything okay?" She asked, her wide bluebell eyes trained on his. God, his heart was melting.

"Yes. Better than okay. I think. I hope." Ah, there were the nerves. He tried his hardest to shove them back. "I just... I can't..." He swallowed and took a deep breath. Marinette glanced above him briefly, and then paled. He blinked, completely thrown by her sudden expression. And of course, he had to know what caused it so he followed her gaze.

They stood underneath a sprig of mistletoe that had been hastily hung up. That had definitely _not_ been there when they came in. "Uh..." She uttered softly. She was blushing fiercely now, and Adrien just knew that he was as red as she was.

But this was perfection. It was his sign. "Marinette." he said, voice stronger than ever. She shifted her gaze back to his, the blue standing out even more brightly against the red of her cheeks. "Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked. And he felt like his soul may have left his body when the words left him. But he said it. He _finally_ said it. The weight of the world dropped off his shoulders.

She blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. And then the biggest smile appeared on her lips and he felt his soul slip back in. "Adrien..." She whispered, reaching up and cupping his cheek. "I... I would love to be your girlfriend."

He whooped loudly, throwing a fist into the air: Victory!! Finally. Finally. Coming back to his senses, he looked down at her and, with the biggest grin on his face, decided to press his luck. "Can I kiss you?"

Her blush deepened but she did not pull back, nor stammer, nor did she squeak. "Yes." was all she said, and he bent down, gently grazing his lips against hers in a sweet, tender kiss.

"About time!"

The two of them ripped apart from each other and looked down the stairs to see Tom and Sabine with giant grins on their faces. "We thought it may never happen!" Sabine was giggling behind her hand.

"Maman!" Marinette cried, absolutely scandalized.

"Well, she's right! You two have been dancing around each other for so long now that we knew the steps by heart. Just from watching!" Tom snorted he laughed so hard.

"Papa," Marinette whined, slapping her hand to her face. She was mortified, but glancing at Adrien she saw that while he was bright red (just like her, she knew), he was smiling down at her like he didn't want to be anywhere else in the world. So she gathered up her courage and straightened up. "Papa. Can Adrien spend Christmas with us?"

"Of course! We'd love to have you, son!"

God, he was in heaven. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a long one but I hope you liked it. Just two left. :)


	24. Day 24: Xmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has his lady and her parents over for supper.

Adrien was nervous. No, he was beyond nervous. He wasn't sure what word would properly describe the nerves building up inside of him.

Marinette, lovely and sweet Marinette, and her family had invited him over for Christmas Day. And so, he decided it was only right to invite them over to his home for Christmas Eve. He had not thought it through. He had only wanted to extend the same warmth and kindness that they constantly bestowed upon him. 

After the fact, when he had gotten home and basked in his unadulterated bliss, he had the time to think over what he had done. And then the panic started. He should have asked his father. If the man got wind of him inviting people over without consulting him in advance (two months in advance if his father had his way), he was going to have a coronary. And then recover long enough to kill Adrien. And then probably fall into a stroke. Adrien paced most of the night away.

An eerie calm settled over him that morning though. He had paced some more after waking but he talked himself down. His father never joined him at dinner anyway. He was busy planning for the spring line, he barely left his office. More likely than not he would be able to bribe the Gorilla and Nathalie to keep quiet. Because he really, truly wanted to be able to do this. They were so sweet to him all the time and expected nothing in return. But he wanted to give them everything in return. Especially his lady.

They employed a professional chef. He wanted them to taste the things the man could make (he had already confirmed with the chef that morning an amazing five course meal). He wanted to show them how much he was willing to give their daughter. After all, he hoped they would be together until the end. Was it weird to think that so early on? Perhaps if they weren't Ladybug and Chat Noir... but they were. They were two halves of one whole and the romantic in him whispered _soulmates_ and he knew, he just _knew_ that this was it for him.

So sue him if he wanted to get in good with the future in-laws as early as possible.

As dinner time closed in on him, he went through the whole gambit of emotions. Panic faded into elation into concern into absolutely absurd romantic fantasies that distracted him for far too long to admit to. 

Speaking with Nathalie and the Gorilla was easier than he had thought possible. The giant man simply smiled at him and gave a quick nod. Nathalie didn't smile but she agreed easily enough, warning him not to disturb his father and everything should be fine.

So he was feeling hopeful when he got the text from Marinette signalling their arrival.

To Plagg's dismay, he bolted off of his chair so fast he left it spinning in his wake (and therefore flinging the aforementioned kwami off the armrest at breakneck speeds). He took the stairs down two at a time and threw the door open, a giant grin on his face. "Merry Christmas Eve!" he greeted, pausing afterward to catch his breath.

"Merry Christmas Eve!" The trio before him chimed back and he was quickly enveloped in a giant group hug. Marinette lingered even after her parents had let up and he felt his cheeks warming. God this was perfection.

"Come on in, follow me!" He recovered quickly after she finally released him, and beamed at them before turning and leading them to the large dining room down the way. Marinette's parents followed along, oohing and aahing at the impressive interior. It was... large. A bit cold, but impressive nonetheless.

Soon they were all sitting at one end of the oppressively large table, chattering away about how excited they were for the next day as they waited for the food to arrive.

"This feels like I'm dining in a five star restaurant." Sabine finally commented, taking another look around the impressive room. "I feel as though I'm under-dressed."

"It's a good thing you didn't let me wear my jammies," Tom grinned and elbowed his wife.

"Oh, you," She giggled back.

Adrien didn't think he'd smiled this much in... well, ever. His hand searched for Marinette's and grasped it under the table. If he was lucky, really lucky, that would be them some day. He glanced over to see her looking at him, only for her to look away with a dark blush. Yup. Perfection. This was definitely perfection.

At least it was until a throat cleared loudly and they all whipped around to see Gabriel standing stiffly in the archway that led out to the foyer. "Adrien. A word?" His voice was cold as ever and it infected Adrien's veins. What in the seven hells was his father doing out of his office? What was this the _one_ time the man decided to pay attention? Of course it would be when he would get in trouble.

Adrien's jaw clenched as he released Marinette's hand and slowly pushed his chair back to stand. Well. Goodbye freedom. Goodbye sunlight. Goodbye family. Goodbye Mar-... wait a second.

Hell no. He was not about to let this happen. He had just finally caught her. It took him so long. And there was no way in hell he was about to let her go again.

So he stayed where he stood, straightening his back and squaring up his shoulders. "Father." He nodded his head. "I'm entertaining company right now. Why don't you join us?"

His father looked absolutely shell shocked. His mouth was slightly open and moved as though it were trying to work out the words that were so obviously brewing in his throat. Adrien hoped to god he would just accept the invitation. Because if he didn't accept, or walk away? This was probably going to be ugly. Gabriel's mouth thinned into a line as he stared his son down, eyes casting over his form to catch any minute sign of weakness. He found none. And so he heaved a heavy sigh and conceded, approaching and sitting at the other end of the table.

Well. At least it was a start.


	25. Day 25: Merry Christmas!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Christmas Day! :D

Marinette was up early for once. She had barely slept. Last night had been... well, nice wasn't the word. Perhaps awkward was more fitting. Oh yes, it was certainly lovely before Adrien's father had joined in (which was horrible to say, even to think, she knew that). But the man certainly knew how to suck all the joy out of a room. Her parents had worried over Adrien as they walked home, whispering their intent to shower him in affection throughout Christmas day. She was both embarrassed by her parents and ecstatic for her kitty. He really deserved it. 

Gabriel Agreste may be an amazing fashion designer. And he may be an idol she would always look up to when it came to that. But he seemed to be at a loss when it came to being a dad. Yes, he was Adrien's father. But certainly not his dad. Marinette chewed on her lip as she gripped the edges of her comforter in her fists. She may be up. But she wasn't _up_. It was cold and she had no desire to leave the warmth of her blanket cocoon until her presence was expressly requested. Tikki had nested in her hair. It was messy enough to look like a nest, too. She scowled. Adrien _was_ going to be coming over late morning. She should probably make herself presentable for her boyfriend. A peal of giggles erupted from her, causing the kwami asleep in her hair to grumble and flit off to find a more quiet resting place.

Boyfriend. She had a _boyfriend_. Well, they hadn't technically had any sort of discussion that technically made it official but she had no doubt in her mind that they were officially dating. Okay, maybe just a tiny bit of doubt. But that was her anxiety's fault.

She wiggled her toes beneath the blankets and gave another squeal of glee. And it was _Adrien._ And it was _Chat!_

Her Ladybug Luck had really cashed in. Her whole being felt warm. So warm that... she threw off the covers. And immediately felt the regret and tugged the covers back over herself. Okay maybe not quite warm enough to brave the cold of her room quite yet.

Normally the house would be near stifling, even during the winter. But it was Christmas day and that meant the bakery was closed. So there was no heat rising from the giant ovens down in the bakery. She shivered and burrowed beneath the warmth of her blankets. Maybe just a bit longer. Then she'd get ready.

~*

When Adrien arrived, he was greeted by giant, suffocating hugs from both Tom and Sabine, and then a group hug from the two of them together. "Merry Christmas!" they sang out to him, all smiles and merriment. Sabine parted from them after hurrying the pair to the couch so that she could get Marinette downstairs.

And when Marinette came down, following behind her mother, Adrien's breath caught in his throat. _Wow_.

Wasn't he supposed to be unlucky? Because he was definitely feeling lucky right now. Marinette had dressed up a bit more than usual. She had left her hair down (again, _wow_ ) and was wearing a green dress with a white collar along with tights. She even had some light makeup on. God what he wouldn't give to kiss it right back off again. "Merry Christmas Adrien," She greeted, tone and smile shy though she managed to retain eye contact. He adored her blush. He probably looked similar, blushing over the fact that he could call her his girlfriend. Another thrill ran through him.

He could kiss her whenever they wanted now. As long as she let him he may never stop. 

Okay, okay, knowing his lady she would make them stop eventually. She was the one with the level head on her shoulders after all. And he _supposed_ they would have to break to eat at some point. He finally blinked, after what felt like forever. "U-uh, Merry Christmas!" He chimed back finally, realizing that he had been sitting there like a buffoon. Finally he tore his eyes away from her only to find Tom grinning at him and wiggling his eyebrows. His blush darkened.

"So! Shall we start with presents?" Sabine asked, clasping her hands together.

"Yes!" Tom grinned, all the cheer of a child as he popped up off of the couch. Adrien had come prepared. He stood from the couch as well to grab the bag he had brought with him from where he left it. He had bought each of them a little something, and a few more things for Marinette to open a bit later. He had only gotten one thing each for her parents and didn't want her to feel left out. Not that they didn't get good gifts! No, not at all. He had even called Alya (who laughed for a good ten minutes before she finally started to help him) to get advice on exactly what would be the best possible gifts for them.

They all situated themselves around the tree, Sabine and Tom on the couch and Adrien and Marinette side by side on the floor.

Presents were... well, presents were nice. But the absolute best part of their present exchange was seeing the pure joy on everyone's faces as they opened the gifts he had gotten for them. He blushed while Sabine gushed over him, he laughed when Tom practically squealed upon ripping open the wrapping paper. He glowed when Marinette's face lit up. And opening his presents? Wow. It was amazing, the amount of time and thought they put into picking gifts for him. Tom got him the newly released UMS game (that he and Marinette immediately freaked out over). Sabine gave him a homemade cookbook with family recipes that he nearly cried over. And Marinette? Marinette had given him the most amazing picture of their group of friends in a frame that she had decorated with paw prints and ladybugs. He was over the moon.

Christmas dinner was divine. They all talked and laughed, and they ate until they were so stuffed that it was difficult to move.

Finally, as it was getting dark, Tom and Sabine shooed the pair of them upstairs so that they could clean up. Adrien offered to help but Sabine just threw him a wink that made him flush and stammer until Marinette took pity on him and dragged him up to her bedroom.

Finally alone, Tikki and Plagg swooped out of their respective hiding spots and grinned happily, dancing around each other in the air. "Merry Christmas Plagg!" Marinette smiled and scratched the kwami behind his big cat ears.

"Merry Christmas Tikki," Adrien said, cupping the little red god in his hands and nuzzling his cheek to her.

"Merry Christmas!" The pair of magical beings chimed up together.

Once the kwamis moved off to cuddle up on Marinette's bed, Adrien turned to her and smiled softly. "My lady," he said, bowing low.

She snorted. And then she mocked a curtsy, nearly stumbling in the process. "My knight."

He pulled out of the bow and stepped closer, gently resting his hands on her shoulders and she stared up at him with cheeks glowing red. "Princess." he said, quieter than before.

"Chaton." She returned. She lifted up onto her toes and he bent down to meet her. The kiss was sweet, soft, perfect. Everything either had ever wanted. When they broke apart, they spent a whole minute just looking into each other's eyes...

Until Plagg gagged at them.

Adrien whipped his head around and glared up at the little black kwami who was peering over the railing of her loft bed. "Plagg I swear I will throw out the special Camembert I got you for your present if you don't disappear right now." He warned.

With a little 'eep!', Plagg dove back out of sight to the sound of Tikki's amused giggles and Adrien rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the beautiful woman before him. "So." she said softly.

"So." he echoed. And then... "Oh! Uh. I have more presents. I left them down... I uh... I'll be right back." He blushed and turned, bolting back down the stairs so he could retrieve the bag that had been abandoned down there. He tried his best to avoid her parent's knowing grins that followed him the entire time.

When he returned, Marinette was perched on her chaise, waiting patiently for him. She smiled warmly and he had to fight not to melt away. Was this real life? She had another package next to her too. Apparently he hadn't been the only one who wanted to give a little more.

He sat down next to her and rummaged in the bag, producing her next gift and smiled as he placed it into her waiting hands. "Open it!" He chirped, adopting a wide Chat Noir grin.

She quirked a brow at that, but did as he asked... and immediately laughed out, snorting as she tried to settle down. In her hands was a Chat Noir action figure. Complete with extendable baton!

"I love it." She managed to get out after another moment of laughter. Finally, she set it in her lap and picked up the present by her feet and handed it to him. "Your turn."

He tore at the paper... and then burst out into laughter. She joined in and was almost crying laughing all over again. She had gotten him a Ladybug action figure. Complete with yo-yo and butterflies. "Oh my god." he groaned out.

"We're quite the pair," Marinette said with another giggle.

"The best pair." he agreed, looking down at the figure. "But... I think I prefer the real thing." He glanced over to her.

She blushed, but held his gaze and smiled that soft smile of hers. "Me too, Chaton. Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone!


End file.
